Alan Turing: The Enigma
Alan Turing: The Enigma
paperback
Published:
5 March, 1992
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Description
Includes a new foreword by the author and a preface by Douglas Hofstadter.
Alan Turing was the extraordinary Cambridge mathematician who masterminded the cracking of the German Enigma ciphers and transformed the Second World War. But his vision went far beyond this crucial achievement. Before the war he had formulated the concept of the universal machine, and in 1945 he turned this into the first design for a digital computer.
Turing's far-sighted plans for the digital era forged ahead into a vision for Artificial Intelligence. However, in 1952 his homosexuality rendered him a criminal and he was subjected to humiliating treatment. In 1954, aged 41, Alan Turing committed suicide and one of Britain's greatest scientific minds was lost.
More Details
| Type | Book |
|---|---|
| ISBN13 | 9780099116417 |
| ISBN10 | 0099116413 |
| Number Of Pages | 768 |
| Item Weight | 574 g |
| Product Dimensions | 131 x 198 x 42 mm |
| Publisher / Reseller | Vintage Publishing |
| Format | paperback |
Media Reviews
One of the finest scientific biographies I’ve ever read: authoritative, superbly researched, deeply sympathetic and beautifully told * Sylvia Nasar, author of A Beautiful Mind *
Andrew Hodges' book is of exemplary scholarship and sympathy. Intimate, perceptive and insightful, it’s also the most readable biography I’ve picked up in some time * Time Out *
A first-rate presentation of the life of a first-rate scientific mind * New York Times Book Review *
One of the finest scientific biographies ever written * New Yorker *
A first-rate presentation of the life of a first-rate scientific mind…it is hard to imagine a more thoughtful and warm biography than this one -- Douglas Hofstadter * New York Times Book Review *
One of the finest scientific biographies I’ve ever read: authoritative, superbly researched, deeply sympathetic and beautifully told * Sylvia Nasar, author of A Beautiful Mind *
Andrew Hodge’s book is of exemplary scholarship and sympathy. Intimate, perceptive and insightful, it’s also the most readable biography I’ve picked up in some time * Time Out *
One of the finest scientific biographies ever written * New Yorker *
Save your money for the forthcoming new edition of Alan Turing: The Enigma by Andrew Hodges, regarded by many as one of the greatest biographies of anyone, let along Turing -- Robert Matthews * BBC Focus Magazine *
This book stands the test of time. It is a labour of love…compelling * Energy and Technology *
GoodReads Reviews
Author's Bio
Andrew Hodges is Tutor in Mathematics at Wadham College, Oxford University. His classic text of 1983, since translated into several languages, created a new kind of biography, with mathematics, science, computing, war history, philosophy and gay liberation woven into a single personal narrative. He is an active contributor to the mathematics of fundamental physics, as a follower of Roger Penrose. See www.turing.org.uk for further material.