Alan Turing: The Enigma

Author/Guide: Andrew Hodges

Why a Booktrail?

WW2: The remarkable story of a remarkable man

ISBN: 978-1784700089
Genre: Biography/memoirs, Historical

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What you need to know before your trail

Alan Turing was the mathematician whose cipher-cracking transformed the Second World War. Taken on by British Intelligence in 1938, as a shy young Cambridge don, he combined brilliant logic with a flair for engineering. In 1940 his machines were breaking the Enigma-enciphered messages of Nazi Germany’s air force. He then headed the penetration of the super-secure U-boat communications.

But his vision went far beyond this achievement. Before the war he had invented 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 took his own life.

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Travel Guide

Bletchley Park

This really has to be seen to be believed. The cramped conditions, the cold winds rattling through the doors, the basic tables and chairs, the lack of comforts and the secrecy. But amidst all that some of the best brains in the country saved millions from death by shortening the war by about two years.

There are no words to describe walking into the huts, around the lake, into the mansion house…..every step you take feels as if you’re on sacred ground as when you think about it, you are. You can almost hear the echoes of the past whispering through the walls. When you get to see Alan Turing’s desk – speechless. This man’s story is more than retold here – there’s even a brick in an honorary wall bearing his name. And his office was so small! Oh and that huge machine he built – remarkable. There are no words to describe what he achieved and what it’s like standing in the very spot he made history.

The huts are a lot smaller than you think, the park itself so compact that you can’t imagine how so many people could work here and work here without knowing what everyone else was doing. This is one place you will never ever forget once you’ve seen it through your own eyes.