A machine beating world chess champions at their own game might not seem like a big deal today, but back in the late 18th century it definitely was! The Mechanical
Turk, also known as the Turk, was a revolutionary machine, or automaton. Many marveled at how it could play chess like a genius.
In 1770, empressMaria Theresa—head of the Habsburg monarchy—invited Wolfgang von Kempelen, who had training in mathematics and physics, to give his opinion
on a magic show she had sponsored. He was not impressed and told the empress that he could do better. After just six months, Von Kempelen delivered on his promise. He had
built a machine that could play chess!
The machine was a life-sizedmodel that consisted of a human head and torso. It was dressed in Turkish robes and turban, hence the name. It sat at a large wooden cabinet on
which the games of chess would be played. As part of the show, Von Kempelen would open the cabinet doors and show the audience its innermostclockworkmachinery. This was done to “prove” there wasn’t anyone inside. Then he’d close the doors, wind up the gears, and invite an audience member to play against it. The Mechanical Turk played against quite a few notable people, including chess master François-André Philidor.
After the Turk was destroyed by fire in 1854, a series of essays were published by Dr.Silas Mitchell, the son of the Turk’s final owner. The essays contained detailed information about the machine’s inner workings, namely that there had actually been a live human operating the Turk from behind the clockwork machinery. Magnetizedchess pieces and the ingenious use of “smoke and mirrors” had successfully fooled countless people. The Mechanical Turk turned out to be a hoax. Despite its trickery, the machine inspired many people and led to the invention of the first computer.
