Code-breaking played a fundamental part in the Allied forces’ victory in the Second World War. The Germans had invented an ‘Enigma machine’, which was used to encrypt secret messages containing important military information, such as the positions of their deadly U-boats. When a message was typed into the machine, it was scrambled into one of nearly 159 quintillion (159 billion billion) possible combinations. To do this, it used an algorithm, or ‘key.’ The key would be changed every 24 hours, making it extremely difficult for even the most brilliant minds to decipher the messages. But there was one mind that did succeed, and it belonged to a man named Alan Turing. Born in 1912, Turing had a relatively privileged upbringing, attending a renowned independent school in Dorset, England, before studying mathematics at Cambridge University. He was awarded a first and was elected a fellow, and in 1936 he came up with the idea for a programmable computer known as a ‘Turing machine.’ With it, he proved that any mathematical problem could be solved, as long as it was representable as an algorithm. Many argue this machine was the model for all modern computers. Turing then began working part-time for the Government Code and Cypher School. On the outbreak of the Second World War, Turing was given secret orders to report to Bletchley Park, an ageing mansion in Buckinghamshire. Little did he know it was to become the centre for British war intelligence. Building on Polish research into the Enigma code, he and mathematician Gordon Welchman developed an electromechanical machine called
Turing was described as scruffy and eccentric
Alan Turing The mathematician who cracked Germany’s secret codes and saved the lives of millions
A life’s work The highs and lows of Alan Turing’s remarkable life and career
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1912
Turing is born in London to Julius and Ethel Turing, while Julius is on leave from the Indian Civil Service.
1931
Turing is accepted into Cambridge University to study mathematics and graduates with a First three years later.
1938
“He proved that any mathematical problem could be solved, as long as it was representable as an algorithm”
The Government Code and Cypher School employ Turing parttime to work on cryptanalysis of the Enigma code.
1939
War breaks out and Turing is posted to Bletchley Park, the central site for British intelligence.
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