Abstract
This chapter introduces the basic elements of computation and discusses the physics of computational processes. It describes a very basic model of computation called Turing Machine that is named in honor of the great British mathematician Alan Turing (1912–1954). A Turing Machine is not a real computer, made of chips, printed boards, and wires; but a mathematical idea, which captures the essence of a computing action. The most interesting and most important fact about Turing Machines is that there is not any known computation that can be proved to be carried out by an actual computer but cannot be carried out by a Turing Machine. Therefore, it is in this sense that a real computer (made of chips and wires) is a physical realization of a Turing Machine.
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