Beschreibung:
Andrew Hodges teaches mathematics at the University of Oxford.
List of Plates ix Foreword by Douglas Hofstadter xi Preface xv PART ONE: THE LOGICAL 1 Esprit de Corps to 13 February 1930 3 2 The Spirit of Truth to 14 April 1936 60 3 New Men to 3 September 1939 141 4 The Relay Race to 10 November 1942 202 BRIDGE PASSAGE to 1 April 1943 305 PART TWO: THE PHYSICAL 5 Running Up to 2 September 1945 325 6 Mercury Delayed to 2 October 1948 394 7 The Greenwood Tree to 7 February 1952 491 8 On the Beach to 7 June 1954 574 Postscript 665 Author's Note 666 Notes 680 Acknowledgements 714 Index 715
It is only a slight exaggeration to say that the British mathematician Alan Turing (1912-54) saved the Allies from the Nazis and invented the computer and artificial intelligence - all before his suicide at age forty-one. Andrew Hodges tells how Turing's ideas laid the foundation for the modern computer, and how he took a leading role in breaking the German Enigma ciphers during World War II. This is also the tragic account of a man who was persecuted for trying to live honestly in a society that defined homosexuality as a crime. The inspiration for a major motion picture starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley, this is the definitive biography of an extraordinary mind and life.