Summary
Andrew Hodges (Website, Wikipedia) joins Andrew (X; LinkedIn) to discuss the life and work of Alan Turing. Andrew is an emeritus senior research fellow of mathematics at the University of Oxford.
What You’ll Learn
Intelligence
Turing’s early foundations for artificial intelligence
Interwar cryptanalysis
Bletchley Park, Hut 8, and British Naval Intelligence
The mechanics of the Bombe machine
Reflections
Legacy changing alongside social history
The weight and pressure of genius
And much, much more …
Quotes of the Week
“Everything that you do with the digital, everything that we're doing now through these computers, flows from his perceptions. And that in turn came through his practical experience during the Second World War on breaking the enemy codes.” – Andrew Hodges .
Resources
SURFACE SKIM
*SpyCasts*
The Real Ian Fleming with Nicholas Shakespeare (2024)
ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL: “The D-Day Deception” – with National WWII Museum Curator Corey Graff (2023)
Hitler’s Trojan Horse – Nazi Intelligence with Nigel West (2023)
How Artificial Intelligence is Changing the Spy Game with Mike Susong (2023)
*Beginner Resources*
Alan Turing, B.J. Copeland, Britannica (2024) [Short biography]
How Did the Enigma Machine Work? Science Museum Group, YouTube (2019) [2 min. video]
How Alan Turing Cracked the Enigma Code, Imperial War Museum (n.d.) [Short article]
DEEPER DIVE
Books
The Codebreakers of Bletchley Park, J. D. Turing (Arcturus, 2020)
Turing’s Vision: The Birth of Computer Science, C. Bernhardt (MIT Press, 2017)
Alan Turing: The Enigma, A. Hodges (Burnett Books/Hutchinson, 1983)
Primary Sources
Alan Turing Obituary and Tributes (1954)
Can digital computers think? (1951)
Computing Machinery and Intelligence (1950)
Proposed electronic calculator (1946)
Turing’s Treatise on the Enigma (1939-1942)
On Computable Numbers (1936)
*Wildcard Resource*
Alan Turing’s School Report Card
Didn’t do very well in high school? Neither did Alan Turing. Amongst hopeful comments about his promising skills in mathematics, teachers noted Turing’s carelessness and severe lack of neatness in his work.
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“Alan Turing: Codebreaker, Visionary, Enigma” – with Andrew Hodges | SpyCast podcast - Listen or read transcript on Metacast
