Alan Turing : The Enigma

Andrew Hodges

Andrew Hodges (born 1949) is a British mathematician, author and emeritus senior research fellow at Wadham College, Oxford. Since the early 1970s, Hodges has worked on twistor theory, which is the approach to the problems of fundamental physics pioneered by Roger Penrose. He was also involved in the gay liberation movement during this time. Hodges is best known as the author of Alan Turing: The Enigma, the story of the British computer pioneer and codebreaker Alan Turing. The book was critically acclaimed when it was published in 1983, with Donald Michie in New Scientist calling it "marvellous and faithful". In June 2002, it was chosen by Michael Holroyd for inclusion in a list of 50 'essential' books (available in print at the time) in The Guardian. Alan Turing: The Enigma formed the basis of Hugh Whitemore's 1986 stageplay Breaking the Code, which was adapted by for Television in 1996, with Derek Jacobi as Turing. The book was later made into the 2014 film The Imitation Game directed by Morten Tyldum, starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Alan Turing. The script for The Imitation Game won Graham Moore an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay at the 87th Academy Awards in 2015.