<human>:  How did the binary search algorithm come about?
<bot>: Binary search was invented by Alan Turing in 1936. It was a way to find the kth smallest element in a list of n elements. The idea is that you divide the list into two halves, and then you search the first half for the kth smallest element. If you find it, then you know that the kth smallest element is in the first half. If you don’t find it, then you know that the kth smallest element is in the second half.