Alan turing and the invention of the computer david leavitt w. Only one man believes that these codes can be broken mathematician and bletchley park cryptanalyst alan turing. 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. Alan mathisonturning and the enigma machine a talk for the astronomical society of harringey by michael morris franks 2. The american 2014 film the imitation game is loosely based on the book, with dramatization. Devoid of his fathers mathematical ability, he was an able student of literature and history, and won a scholarship to corpus christi college, oxford, from where he graduated with a ba in 1894. If you read the book you will realise that the film distorts aspects of turings live and work quite considerably. Birthplace alan turing was born in a nursing home in paddington, london on 23 june 1912. It appeared in in september 2000 in a special edition of british heritage magazine.
A copy of this handbook was at last released from secrecy by the american national security agency in april 1996, under the title turings. Buy alan turing the enigma the book that inspired the. The enigma, is the indispensable guide to turings life and work and one of the finest biographies of a scientific genius ever written. Alan turings influence will appear again in other articles on this site, beginning with this piece. 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. Listed as one of the essential 50 books of all time in the guardian. And turing died because his identity as a homosexual was incompatible with coldwar ideas of security. The book that inspired the film the imitation game updated edition kindle edition by hodges, andrew, hofstadter, douglas, hodges, andrew. His work cracking the germans enigma machine code was, in many ways, the first triumph of computer science. The enigma by andrew hodges the book that inspired the film the imitation game read alan turing. 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. In 1992, when vintage uk published a new british paperback edition, i had the opportunity to include a short updating preface. Both turings cracking of the enigma code and his prosecution of gross indecency are mis portrayed in the film.
Their stange and hectic lives are detailed here for the first time to the englishspeaking world. This added some material and some new perspectives which had emerged in the 1980s. 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. What the imitation game didnt tell you about turing s. The enigma was published in the uk and the us in 1983. Turing brought the idea to practical realization in 1945 with his electronic design. Julius mathison turing, alans father, was the second son, born on 9 november 1873.
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 by decadesall before his suicide at age fortyone. The nook book ebook of the alan turing the turing hypothesis by. How alan turing cracked the enigma code imperial war museums. 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. The book that inspired the film the imitation game.
A new edition to celebrate alan turings centenary, includes a new foreword by the author and a preface by douglas hofst. Hodges tells how turings revolutionary idea of 1936 the concept of a universal machine laid the foundation for the modern computer. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. This is both a biography of alan turing and an alternative history of ww2 and it handles both brilliantly. 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. The professionalism of hourly history to research into the subject and present a succinct and well presented book is present throughout.
An olympic runners story of survival as a prisoner of the japanese in world war ii after his plane went down over the pacific. Hodges examined available primary sources and interviewed surviving witnesses to elucidate turings multiple dimensions. The classic biography of the founder of computer science. The enigma of wwii codebreaker alan turing youtube. The enigma of alan turing central intelligence agency. Alan turingan english mathematician, logician, and cryptanalystwas a computer pioneer. The book could be simpler and could meet the need of a great biography. The official book behind the academy awardwinning film the imitation game, starring benedict cumberbatch and keira knightley. This was the writer alan garner, who wrote a column my hero. Buy alan turing the enigma the book that inspired the film the imitation game updated edition book online at best prices in india on. During world war ii, turing was the intellectual star of bletchley park, the secret british cryptography unit. A pure mathematician from a tradition that prided itself on its.
The introduction to computer pioneer alan turing by philosopher and leading turing scholar copeland reveals a life too complex for a short volume. 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. Born in london in 1912, he studied at both cambridge and princeton universities. Turings rehabilitation from over a quartercenturys embarrassed silence was largely the result of andrew hodgess superb biography, alan turing. This book is an important entry in a distinctive new series from. 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. I think the aspect of the book that i most grasped and that was the most thoughtprovoking was turings ideas about machine intelligence. 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. 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.
Site maintained by publisher princeton university press. The enigma by andrew hodges is an enigma in its own right. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading alan turing. The enigma is a gripping story of mathematics, computers, cryptography, and homosexual persecution. The enigma 1983 is a biography of the british mathematician, codebreaker, and early computer scientist, alan turing 19121954 by andrew hodges. A far superior book about turing was written by andrew hodges. Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you read alan turing. But the books thoughtprovoking core is turings pursuit of his.
The book that inspired the film the imitation game updated edition by andrew. When the history books of the future are written, alan turing will go down in the company of newton and darwin and einstein. The inspiration for a major motion picture starring benedict cumberbatch and keira knightley, alan turing. Its only a slight exaggeration to say that the british mathematician alan. 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. Its a contentious question, says andrew hodges, author of the acclaimed biography alan turing. This classic biography of the founder of computer science, reissued on the centenary of his birth with a. Even though this book had little new information for me about alan turing it was still an excellent read. He was already working parttime for the british governments code and cypher school before the second world war broke out. A gripping story of mathematics, science, computing, war history, cryptography, and homosexual persecution and liberation.
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. Turing s rehabilitation from over a quartercenturys embarrassed silence was largely the result of andrew hodgess superb biography, alan turing. Winston churchill later described turings success in breaking the enigma codes as the single biggest contribution to victory against nazi germany. Learn how this eccentric oddity changed the world and did it almost entirely in secret. 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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