A gripping story of mathematics, science, computing, war history, cryptography, and homosexual persecution and liberation. 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. This New York Times bestselling biography of the founder of computer science and artificial intelligence is the definitive account of an extraordinary mind and life. --Excerpted from 2014 version, published by Princeton University Press.
|
