Alan turing and the invention of the computer david leavitt w. This book follows his struggles through early life all. A brief panic over running out of things to read led me to poll my twitter followers for suggestions, andrew hodges biography of alan turing, alan turing. Sep 09, 2004 alan turing was one of the most important and influential thinkers of the 20th century. Benedict cumberbatch in the 2014 biopic of alan turing. The book offered nothing new to me about alan turing. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks. It appeared in in september 2000 in a special edition of british heritage magazine. Alan turings influence will appear again in other articles on this site, beginning with this piece. Birthplace alan turing was born in a nursing home in paddington, london on 23 june 1912.
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. His work entailed too a challenge to the science of ourselves, exploring the limits. The turing machine is an imaginary not even quite hypothetical computer invented in 1936 by english mathematician alan turing 19121954 to help solve a question in mathematical logic. Alan turing 191254 was a british mathematician who made history. Hodges examined available primary sources and interviewed surviving witnesses to elucidate turings multiple dimensions. 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. Eaves the oversight delivers an exquisite novel inspired by alan turing s brilliant mind and troubled life. If a book is not in a rank since the previous week, it will not have an arrow. Seminal writings in computing, logic, philosophy, artificial intelligence, and artificial life plus the secrets of enigma available in paperback. If one has seen the movie and liked it, one is going to love this too. English mathematician and scientist alan turing 19121954 is credited with many of the foundational principles of contemporary computer science. Turing is most famous for his cryptanalysis work at bletchley park during the second world war. The book that inspired the film the imitation game updated edition hodges, andrew, hodges, andrew, hofstadter, douglas on.
Hardcover graphic books best sellers april 10, 2016. Imitation game alan turing decoded the art of books. This book leads you through the life of alan turing from when he was a little boy, to when he killed himself in 1954. 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. The story of alan turing, world war iis secret hero, whose brilliant mathematical work resulted in the enigma machine which broke the german military code and gave the allied forces advance knowledge of german military movements.
Hodges examined available primary sources and interviewed surviving witnesses to elucidate turing s multiple dimensions. Hounded by authorities and peers alike, british mathematician alan turing committed suicide in 1954 by biting into a cyanidelaced apple. Hodges tells how turing s revolutionary idea of 1936 the concept of a universal machine laid the foundation for the modern computer. Alan mathisonturning and the enigma machine a talk for the astronomical society of harringey by michael morris franks 2. Alan turing is often called the father of modern computing. Hardcover graphic books best sellers april 10, 2016 the. His code breaking efforts led to the cracking of the german. But when alan is outed as a gay man, he is faced with imprisonment or chemical castration. He has also been described as the father of the modern computer, dreaming of a machine that could think adn inaugurating a scientific revolution that we are deep in the midst of today. This volume makes his key writings available to a nonspecialist readership for the first time. What if alan turing, founder of the modern computer age, escaped assassination by the secret service to become the lover of beat author william burroughs. Cspan has agreements with retailers that share a small percentage of your. Jan 01, 2014 this is a short and concise biography of alan turing. Alan mathison turing 23 june 1912 7 june 1954, was an english mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst and computer scientist.
Turing s rehabilitation from over a quartercenturys embarrassed silence was largely the result of andrew hodgess superb biography, alan turing. Computing machinery and intelligence by alan turing. Users can purchase an ebook on diskette or cd, but the most popular method of getting an ebook is to purchase a downloadable file of the ebook or other reading material from a web site such as barnes and noble to be read from the users computer or reading device. Lagercrantz the girl in the spiders web proves that he can succeed with wholly original work in this multifaceted look at the death of british mathematician alan turing in 1954. Alec pryor, a gifted genius during wwii, has been found guilty of homosexuality. Alan turing, especially his death, is still a mystery to this day and unless someone can create a machine that the professionalism of hourly history to research into the subject and present a succinct and well presented book is present throughout. Alan turing decoded jim ottaviani and leland purvis. A biography alan turing was a pioneering english computer scienti. A new york times bestseller the official book behind the academy awardwinning film the imitation game, starring benedict cumberbatch and keira knightley.
This copy is for your personal, noncommercial use only. Alan turing was needed to save the war for the allies and his work now inspires generations of young minds. I read it when it first came out in 1983, and immediately formed the ambition to write something similar about ludwig wittgenstein. After the war, turing went on to launch modern computer science through his creation of the universal turing machine and the imitation.
This classic biography of the founder of computer science, reissued on the centenary of his birth with a substantial new preface by the. I wont lie to you, i knew very little about alan turing or the whole bletchley park thing before reading this book. This biographical novel examines the life and work of the british mathematician alan turing. Hardcover graphic books best sellers may 1, 2016 the. Alan turing 19121954 was the mathematician credited with cracking the german enigma code during world war ii, enabling the allies to defeat the nazis. A groundbreaking thinker in the field of pure math, a man p. His breaking of the german uboat enigma cipher in world war ii ensured alliedamerican control of the atlantic. As a byproduct, turing also founded the field of computability theory the study of the abilities and limitations of digital computers. Computing genius and wartime code breaker is a nonfiction biography written by harry henderson. One of the most important openings in the path to the modern computer was made by the british mathematician alan turingremarkably, while he was solving an entirely different problem. Espionage books best sellers april 12, 2015 the new. The professionalism of hourly history to research into the subject and present a succinct and well presented book is present throughout. This book is within the scope of wikiproject computer science, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of computer science related articles on wikipedia.
Apr 10, 2016 hardcover graphic books april 10, 2016 hardcover graphic books april 10, 2016. A new york times bestseller selected as a 2017 alayalsa great graphic novel for teens. Alan turing was an extraordinary man who crammed into a life of only 42 years the careers of. A gripping story of mathematics, science, computing, war history, cryptography, and homosexual persecution and liberation. Hardcover graphic books best sellers july 3, 2016 the. Alan turing, pioneer of computing and world war ii code breaker, was one of the most important and influential thinkers of the twentieth century. The book that inspired the film the imitation game updated edition by andrew. Turings rehabilitation from over a quartercenturys embarrassed silence was largely the result of andrew hodgess superb biography, alan turing. British mathematical genius alan turing and a team of gifted mathematicians try to crack the german enigma code to turn the tide of world war ii. Described by his mother as an unsociable and dreamy child, turing found his calling in mathematics, applying his. The man who broke napoleons codes introduces readers to george scovell, an engravers apprentice who stumbled into a job as the du. This is a short and concise biography of alan turing. Nope, i am not one of those amusingly titled ladies who call themselves cumberbitches it was just that this book was on offer a few years ago and i willynillily clicked buy it now. Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you read alan turing.
Alan mathison turing, 191254, british mathematician and computer theorist. Jul 03, 2016 hardcover graphic books july 03, 2016 hardcover graphic books july 03, 2016. Book awards book club selections books by author books by series coming soon kids books new releases teens books this months biggest new releases. Bio of turing more about turing codebreaking artificial intelligence computer history. Turing brought the idea to practical realization in 1945 with his electronic design. During world war ii, he worked at bletchley park, where top secret work was carried. Programming legend charles petzold unlocks the secrets of the extraordinary and prescient 1936 paper by alan m. The paper, published in 1950 in mind, was the first to introduce his concept of what is now known as the turing test to the general public. Listed as one of the essential 50 books of all time in the guardian. But turing s vision went far beyond the desperate wartime struggle. The turing award is generally recognized as the highest distinction in computer science. It covers his secret work on breaking the german enigma code, his academic career, his arrest for a homosexual act, and his sad suicide. Alan turing wasnt the only brit with a genius for code cracking.
Alan turning is widely known as the cryptographer extraordinaire of bletchly park, the man who broke the nazi enigma code. Jun 30, 2015 a new york times bestseller the official book behind the academy awardwinning film the imitation game, starring benedict cumberbatch and keira knightley 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. 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. 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. Alan turing was a british computer scientist, mathematician, and cryptanalyst. Alan mathisonturning and the enigma machine a talk for the astronomical society of harringey by michael morris franks. Turing was highly influential in the development of theoretical computer science, providing a formalisation of the concepts of algorithm and computation with the turing machine, which can be. List of books and articles about alan turing online. Sep 01, 2017 alan turing was an extraordinary man who crammed into a life of only 42 years the careers of mathematician, codebreaker, computer scientist and biologist. But a book i wish i had written, and one that was a big inspiration for the things i have written, is alan turing.
Alan turing is someone people will look up to for eternity and as long as we follow his ideals of having strong morals, and being noble, will we live good lives. Hodges brings turing to life through his empathetic scrutiny of the resource material turing left behind, and as hodges says. The imitation game presents a historically accurate graphic novel biography of turing s life, including his groundbreaking work on the fundamentals of cryptography and artificial intelligence. Even though this book had little new information for me about alan turing it was still an excellent read. The official book behind the academy awardwinning film the imitation game, starring benedict cumberbatch and keira knightley. The scientists signature from the visitors book at bletchley park in 1947 will. Its only a slight exaggeration to say that the british mathematician alan. His codebreaking work at bletchley park was so significant it helped to shorten the second world war, and with tommy flowers he built the first computer. He was highly influential in the development of computer science, providing a formalisation of the concepts of algorithm and computation with the turing machine, which played a significant role in the creation of the modern computer.
British scientist alan turing has been chosen to feature. Hardcover graphic books april 10, 2016 hardcover graphic books april 10, 2016. Turing award is an annual prize given by the association for computing machinery acm to an individual selected for contributions of lasting and major technical importance to the computer field. Alan turing world war 2 biographies book 7 goodreads. Alan turing the turing hypothesis by alan turing nook. 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. Julius mathison turing, alans father, was the second son, born on 9 november 1873. May 27, 2012 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. A far superior book about turing was written by andrew hodges. Award winning authors jim ottaviani and leland purvis present a historically accurate graphic novel biography of english mathematician and scientist alan turing in the imitation game english mathematician and scientist alan turing 19121954 is credited with many of the foundational. While studying at cambridge he began work in predicate logic that led to a proof 1937 that some mathematical problems are not susceptible to solution by automated computation.
174 381 964 1140 34 1427 322 1187 910 733 703 1287 1004 844 812 1379 912 1491 1462 1237 768 504 1404 697 257 771 1378 1105 463 88 738 1008 1489 1085 946 192 91 312 513 1324 683 1298 1240 889