Alan Turing: Enigma: The Incredible True Story of the Man Who Cracked The Code

If you have ever used a computer, you owe that joy to Alan Turing. Turing is known by many as the Father of the Modern Computer for his conception of the theoretical stored-memory machine (known as the Turing Machine) and for the subsequent implementation of this idea in the creation of some of the world’s first working computers, the Automatic Computing Engine, and the Manchester Mark 1.

Impressive as they are, though, Turing’s contributions to computer science are not necessarily his most famous or influential projects. Alan Turing was one of the most significant figures in the Allied victory of World War Two, thanks to his ingenious code breaking skills and the invention of the British Bombe at Bletchley Park. In his later life, Turing even dabbled in artificial intelligence, and biology, creating concepts that are still being investigated today.

Until recently, Alan Turing had often been overlooked as an important figure in history. Thanks to in-depth biographies like Andrew Hodges’ Alan Turing: The Enigma, and film depictions of Turing’s life, like The Imitation Game, based on Hodges’ book, Alan Turing is quickly becoming a household name, as people begin to recognize that his contributions to various fields were so influential they actually changed the course of human history.