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Alan Turing the enigma : the book that inspired the film The Imitation Game

A gripping story of mathematics, computers, cryptography, and homosexual persecution. Hodges tells how Turing's revolutionary idea of 1936-- the concept of a universal machine-- laid the foundation for the modern computer. Turing brought the idea to practical realization in 1945 with his electr...

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Main Author: Hodges, Andrew.
Other Authors: Hofstadter, Douglas R., 1945-
Format: Books Print Book
Language: English
Published: Princeton, [New Jersey] : Princeton University Press, [2014].
Subjects:
Turing, Alan Mathison, > 1912-1954.
Mathematicians > Great Britain > Biography.
Summary: A gripping story of mathematics, computers, cryptography, and homosexual persecution. Hodges tells how Turing's revolutionary idea of 1936-- the concept of a universal machine-- laid the foundation for the modern computer. Turing brought the idea to practical realization in 1945 with his electronic design. This work was directly related to Turing's leading role in breaking the German Enigma ciphers during World War II, a scientific triumph that was critical to Allied victory in the Atlantic. Despite his wartime service, Turing was eventually arrested, stripped of his security clearance, and forced to undergo a humiliating treatment program-- all for trying to live honestly in a society that defined homosexuality as a crime.
Item Description: This edition with a new preface by the author.
"First published by Burnett Books Ltd in association with Hutchinson Publishing Group, 1983"--T.p. verso.
Physical Description: xxxii, 736 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations; 20 cm
Bibliography: Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN: 069116472X (pbk.)
9780691164724 (pbk.)
Author Notes: Andrew Hodges was born in London, England in 1949. He is a mathematician, author, and activist in the gay liberation movement of the 1970s. Since the early 1970s, he has worked on twistor theory. He is also known as the author of Alan Turing: The Enigma, the story of the British computer pioneer and codebreaker Alan Turing. This book was the basis for the 2014 feature film The Imitation Game.

(Bowker Author Biography)

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