The enigma by andrew hodges is an enigma in its own right. It appeared in in september 2000 in a special edition of british heritage magazine. During world war ii, turing was the intellectual star of bletchley park, the secret british cryptography unit. The inspiration for a major motion picture starring benedict cumberbatch and keira knightley, alan turing.
Alan turing this is a wikipedia book, a collection of wikipedia articles that can be easily saved, imported by an external electronic rendering service, and ordered as a printed book. And turing died because his identity as a homosexual was incompatible with coldwar ideas of security. The enigma is a gripping story of mathematics, computers, cryptography, and homosexual persecution. Winston churchill later described turings success in breaking the enigma codes as the single biggest contribution to victory against nazi germany. The introduction to computer pioneer alan turing by philosopher and leading turing scholar copeland reveals a life too complex for a short volume. Alan turing 19121954 was the mathematician credited with cracking the german enigma code during world war ii, enabling the allies to defeat the nazis. It is only a slight exaggeration to say that the british mathematician alan turing 19121954 saved the allies from the nazis, invented the computer and artificial intelligence, and anticipated gay liberation. Julius mathison turing, alans father, was the second son, born on 9 november 1873.
Alan turing the enigma the inaccuracies in the film the imitation game aside, the historychanging accomplishments of the bletchley park codebreakers were now fully revealed to a world audience. Turing s rehabilitation from over a quartercenturys embarrassed silence was largely the result of andrew hodgess superb biography, alan turing. The classic biography of the founder of computer science. The book could be simpler and could meet the need of a great biography.
Alan turing died in 1954, but the themes of his life epitomize the turn of the millennium. It is a bit ironic that a book whose title implies that alan turing himself is the biggest enigma manages to leave him still an enigma in many ways, but that is the case. Born in london in 1912, he studied at both cambridge and princeton universities. Hodges examined available primary sources and interviewed surviving witnesses to elucidate turings multiple dimensions. Site maintained by publisher princeton university press. It is only a slight exaggeration to say that the british mathematician alan turing 19121954 saved the allies from the nazis, invented the computer and artificial intelligence, and anticipated gay liberation by decadesall before his suicide at age fortyone. But there are a few unexpected choices, like alan turing and karl popperalthough on further. He was already working parttime for the british governments code and cypher school before the second world war broke out. The nook book ebook of the alan turing the turing hypothesis by. The enigma, is the indispensable guide to turings life and work and one of the finest biographies of a scientific genius ever written. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading alan turing.
When the history books of the future are written, alan turing will go down in the company of newton and darwin and einstein. Buy alan turing the enigma the book that inspired the film the imitation game updated edition book online at best prices in india on. A pure mathematician from a tradition that prided itself on its. I think the aspect of the book that i most grasped and that was the most thoughtprovoking was turings ideas about machine intelligence. The enigma 1983 is a biography of the british mathematician, codebreaker, and early computer scientist, alan turing 19121954 by andrew hodges. This added some material and some new perspectives which had emerged in the 1980s. This book is an important entry in a distinctive new series from. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. The enigma, both british and american, appeared in 2014 the new british edition is from vintage, random house, london, and the new american edition is from princeton university press these new editions are virtually identical with a new 2014 preface, and a foreword by douglas hofstadter. An olympic runners story of survival as a prisoner of the japanese in world war ii after his plane went down over the pacific. The professionalism of hourly history to research into the subject and present a succinct and well presented book is present throughout.
A far superior book about turing was written by andrew hodges. Hounded by authorities and peers alike, british mathematician alan turing committed suicide in 1954 by biting into a cyanidelaced apple. The enigma of wwii codebreaker alan turing youtube. Alan turingan english mathematician, logician, and cryptanalystwas a computer pioneer. Hodges examined available primary sources and interviewed surviving witnesses to elucidate turing s multiple dimensions. Its subject, the british mathematical genius who contributed to the cryptanalysis of the nazi enigma code and to the beginnings of the computer, was not an easy subject. A new edition to celebrate alan turings centenary, includes a new foreword by the author and a preface by douglas hofst. But the books thoughtprovoking core is turings pursuit of his. Even though this book had little new information for me about alan turing it was still an excellent read. A gripping story of mathematics, science, computing, war history, cryptography, and homosexual persecution and liberation. The book that inspired the film the imitation game. The enigma was published in the uk and the us in 1983.
His work cracking the germans enigma machine code was, in many ways, the first triumph of computer science. Alan garner kindly expanded to me on his recollections, and i have included the following passage in the preface to the 2014 editions of the book. Listed as one of the essential 50 books of all time in the guardian. This was the writer alan garner, who wrote a column my hero. Their stange and hectic lives are detailed here for the first time to the englishspeaking world. This book, written by a nephew of alan turing, resurrects the lost history of the enigma secret by revealing the part that polish mathematicians played in breaking the enigma code. What the imitation game didnt tell you about turing s. If you read the book you will realise that the film distorts aspects of turings live and work quite considerably. Both turings cracking of the enigma code and his prosecution of gross indecency are mis portrayed in the film. This is both a biography of alan turing and an alternative history of ww2 and it handles both brilliantly. The enigma by andrew hodges the book that inspired the film the imitation game read alan turing. The book that inspired the film the imitation game updated edition kindle edition by hodges, andrew, hofstadter, douglas, hodges, andrew. The book that inspired the film the imitation game updated edition by andrew.
In 1992, when vintage uk published a new british paperback edition, i had the opportunity to include a short updating preface. The enigma of alan turing central intelligence agency. Turing brought the idea to practical realization in 1945 with his electronic design. Learn how this eccentric oddity changed the world and did it almost entirely in secret. Buy alan turing the enigma the book that inspired the. In late 1940 alan turing wrote a report describing the methods he and his colleagues at bletchley park had used to break into the german enigma cipher systems. Alan mathisonturning and the enigma machine a talk for the astronomical society of harringey by michael morris franks 2. The official book behind the academy awardwinning film the imitation game, starring benedict cumberbatch and keira knightley. Hodges tells how turings revolutionary idea of 1936 the concept of a universal machine laid the foundation for the modern computer.
Its only a slight exaggeration to say that the british mathematician alan turing 19121954 saved the allies from the nazis, invented the computer and artificial intelligence, and anticipated gay liberation by decades all before his suicide at age 41. How alan turing cracked the enigma code imperial war museums. Turings rehabilitation from over a quartercenturys embarrassed silence was largely the result of andrew hodgess superb biography, alan turing. Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you read alan turing. After the war, turing went on to launch modern computer science through his creation of the universal turing machine and the imitation game, an artificialintelligence test that is still in use today. Often remembered for his contributions to the fields of artificial intelligence and modern computer science before either even existed, turing is probably best known for what is now dubbed the turing test.
Its a contentious question, says andrew hodges, author of the acclaimed biography alan turing. A copy of this handbook was at last released from secrecy by the american national security agency in april 1996, under the title turings. The genius who was a major figure in the breaking of enigma was at home in his world of figures and computations, but seldom elsewhere. This classic biography of the founder of computer science, reissued on the centenary of his birth with a. Anthony mason visits with actor benedict cumberbatch to talk about his role as mathematician alan turing in the imitation game, a new film recounting turings heroic and tragic life story. Birthplace alan turing was born in a nursing home in paddington, london on 23 june 1912. Only one man believes that these codes can be broken mathematician and bletchley park cryptanalyst alan turing. Alan turing and the invention of the computer david leavitt w. Alan turings influence will appear again in other articles on this site, beginning with this piece. Thanks to the movie the imitation game, alan turing has emerged from historys shadows, where his memory had languished for decades.
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