Want to know more about the life of Alan Turing and the work he did? Check out these book, movie and documentary recommendations!
BOOKS
Alan Turing: The Enigma By Andrew Hodges
Alan Turing: The Enigma is a biography of the British mathematician, codebreaker, and early computer scientist, Alan Turing by Andrew Hodges. The book covers Alan Turing's life and work. The 2014 film The Imitation Game is loosely based on the book, with dramatization.
Little People Big Dreams
In this book from the critically acclaimed, multimillion-copy bestselling Little People, BIG DREAMS series, discover the life of Alan Turing, the genius code cracker and father of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence.
BUY THE BOOK HERE
A Life Story Series: Alan Turing: code-breaker, mathematician, father of modern computing
Meet Alan Turing, the genius code cracker and father of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence. Alan grew up in England, where his best friends were numbers and a little boy called Christopher. When his young friend died, Alan retreated to the world of numbers and codes, where he discovered how to crack the code of the Nazi Enigma machine. This moving book features stylish and quirky illustrations and extra facts at the back, including a biographical timeline with historical photos and a detailed profile of the brilliant mathematician's life.
DOCUMENTARIES
Decoding Alan Turing (2009)
A brilliant Cambridge Mathematician whose work "On Computable Numbers" forms the basis of today's programable computers. Perhaps affecting modern society more than any other individual to date. Turing was drafted into service during WW2 to work at Bletchley Park and helped crack the Nazi Enigma Code and turn the tide of WW2 for the Allies. A hero many times over, he was later persecuted by the same country the fought to protect by being a homosexual. Later in life dying mysteriously after taking a bite out of an apple laced with cyanide. Poisoned? Suicide? or just a tragic ending.
Codebreaker: Alan Turing - Persecution of a Genius (2014)
In 1952, the life of the world's greatest mathematician was in turmoil. Alan Turing almost single headedly cracked the impossible German Enigma machine and changed the course of WW2, while giving birth to the computing age. During his lifetime, his historic achievements went unrecognised. Instead, he was publicly disgraced for being a gay man in a time when homosexual acts were illegal.
MOVIES
The Imitation Game (2014)
in 1939, newly created British intelligence agency MI6 Cambridge Mathematics alumnus Alan Turing (played by Benedict Cumberbatch) to crack Nazi codes, including Enigma - which cryptanalysts had thought unbreakable. Turing's team, including Joan Clarke (played by Keira Knightley), analyse Enigma messages while he builds a machine to decipher them. Turing and team finally succeed and become heroes, but in1952, the quiet genius encounters disgrace when authorities reveal he is gay and send him to prison.
PLEASE NOT THAT SOME OF THE MOVIES, DOUCMENTARIES AND BOOKS MENTION HOMOPHOBIA AND SUSPECTED SUICIDE
We highly recommend you watch The Imitation Game and read The Enigma!
