Alan Turing: The Enigma The Centenary Edition

by Andrew Hodges

  computers 387;

  see also Cold War

  Rylands, G. 371

  sagas and saga-ettes 484—5

  sailing see boats

  St Leonards-on-Sea 6–10

  St Michael’s (pre-prep. school) 7, 10

  Sark 59, 67–8

  Sayers, Dorothy 211, 377–8

  Sayre, David 410–1

  ‘scanner’ of Turing machine 97–9

  Scharnhorst (ship) 189, 222, 269

  Scholz, H. 124, 152, 216, 253n

  schools see St Michael’s; Hazelhurst; Sherborne; also learning

  Schrodinger, E. 40, 79, 86, 252, 431

  science, philosophy of: AMT’s 418–9;

  see also levels of description; determinism

  Science Museum, London 52, 109

  Science News 494–5

  Scotland 7, 9, 10, 11

  SCU3 (Special Communications Unit No. 3) 270; see Hanslope Park

  Second World War: AMT anticipates 138, 144, 146;

  declared 158–9;

  fall of France 191–3;

  attack on Russia 205–6;

  entry of USA 221–2;

  El Alamein 240;

  turning of tide 251–9;

  Normandy landing 276–8, 287–8;

  victory 289, 313;

  see also Atlantic, battle of;

  implications of 289–90, 311, 347, 362, 364, 512;

  see also Cold War; atomic fission

  secret service (British) (SIS or MI6):

  vis à vis GC and CS 146, 163, 177, 191, 201, 205, 221, 237–8, 242;

  and Hanslope 270–1;

  and CIA 498, 507

  secret service (French) 170

  security risk, homosexuals defined as 254n, 497–8, 500–3, 506–7

  Security Service (British) (MI5) 270, 497, 502

  self-reference 84, 103, 215; see also

  Godei; types, logical; self-reference

  Senate, United States 142, 497–8, 501

  sequential analysis 197, 202, 204, 231, 266, 344, 474n

  sets, theory of 83–5, 90–1, 95, 215

  sexuality, homosexuality:

  as natural wonder 12;

  at public schools 27–9, 77, 158, 461;

  as first love 35–45;

  pre-war desires 57–8, 62, 75–8, 115, 122, 127, 129, 132–3, 136, 193, 440;

  liberal King’s College ambience 74, 78, 371;

  broken wartime engagement 206, 216, 264;

  post-war desires 282–4, 309, 370–1, 373–4, 386, 396–7;

  AMT as man in the street 428–9, 448–50, 452–5, 519;

  legal and medical reaction 458–63, 467–73;

  raised consciousness 475—6, 480–2, 484—7;

  and politics of insecurity 254n, 500–6

  and feminism 516–8

  Shakespeare 32, 405

  Shannon, Claude E. 250–1, 274, 308, 355, 360, 410–1

  Shaw, George Bernard 72, 74, 78–9, 127, 207, 266, 308, 417, 424–5

  Shelley 439, 521

  Shenley (near Bletchley): AMT lodges at 160, 264, 279;

  silver bars at 193, 279, 344–5, 479

  Sherborne School:

  AMT cycles to 20–1;

  finds unscientific 21–3;

  is reported upon poorly at 24–6;

  studies Einstein at 32–4;

  is redeemed by Christopher 35;

  AMT is prefect of 54;

  is praised for loyalty to 59;

  revisits 69, 484;

  recalls 132, 158, 369, 381, 427, 447;

  compares with trial 473

  Sierpinski, W. 62

  Sigint see GC and CS

  silver bars 193, 279, 344–5, 479

  Sinkov, A. 165, 167

  Skewes, S., Skewes number 135, 154

  Smith, R. A. 349–50

  Smith’s Prize, Cambridge 114

  Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs 149, 489

  socialism 308, 362, 527;

  see also Labour party

  sociology 130, 384–5, 460–1

  sonnets, appreciation of, lack of 29, 405–6, 423

  Soviet Union 71–3, 280;

  communications 147;

  computers 387;

  see also Cold War

  Spain 48–9;

  communications in 147–8, 176

  speech, AMT’s manner of 24, 61, 68, 209, 249, 396

  speech, encipherment of 236–7, 245; then see

  X-system; Delilah

  spinors 495, 495n

  Spirit: AMT on nature of 63–4;

  related to Eddington 64–6;

  and to Shaw’s Life Force 78;

  also as Morcom hymn 76;

  other references 108, 362

  see also after-life; religion

  spying see secret service; CIA

  stack (for sub-routines) 326n

  statistics see probability

  Stead, Christopher 122

  Stephenson, William see BSC

  Stibitz, G. 299, 326

  Stoney, origins of family 3, 16

  Stoney, Edward Waller (grandfather) 3–5, 11

  Stoney, George Johnstone 16, 225, 317, 439

  Stoney, Sarah (née Crawford) (grandmother) 3

  Stopford, J. 465–6

  storage, for computer:

  general problem 295, 302–3, 314–5, 319, 321, 334, 384–5;

  see also delay line; cathode ray tube; magnetic core; magnetic drum; magnetic tape

  Strachey, Christopher 442–3, 446–7, 477–8

  Strachey, Oliver and Ray 147, 442

  Strange Brother (Niles) 468n

  Strauss, E. B. 483n

  strikes, general 20; anti-war 71–2

  sub-routine 325–6, 367, 400, 401n, 407, 446

  suicide 129, 452, 487–492, 520

  Sunday Dispatch 501

  Sunday Empire News 346

  Sunday Express 77, 525n

  Sunday Pictorial 460–1, 469, 502–3

  Sunday Times 525n

  Swan, Joseph 38

  Switzerland 10, 387

  tables of behaviour see instructions; programming

  tape, of Turing machine 97–9;

  see also storage

  tape, paper, for teleprinter 228–9, 231, 267, 270, 321, 334, 398–9, 409, 482n

  Taylor, G. I. 300

  Teddington (London suburb) 305;

  AMT lodges in 317;

  see under NPL

  Telecommunications Research Establishment

  see TRE

  telephone, AMT uses neighbours’ 427

  telephone industry see Post Office Research Station; Bell Laboratories; also relays

  teleprinter, teleprinter tape 109, 228–9, 231, 267, 270, 321, 334;

  at Manchester 398–9, 409, 482n

  telescopes 39, 40, 44–5, 48, 50, 132

  television 109, 321n, 382, 402, 486

  ‘Ten Club’ (King’s College) 75, 371

  ‘Test Assembly’, for ACE 365, 372

  The Cloven Pine (F. C.) 264, 368, 370, 458, 460, 487

  The Green Bay Tree (Sharp) 74, 467

  The Loom of Youth (Waugh) 21, 27–8, 132, 458

  The Nature of the Physical World (Eddington) 34, 40, 51, 64–6

  The Pilgrim’s Progress (Bunyan) 9, 515

  The Road to Wigan Pier (Orwell) 7, 8, 310, 449

  The Small Back Room (Balchin) 286, 422

  Thomas, H. A. 366, 372, 407–8

  Thompson, D’Arcy 12, 207–8, 430

  Through the Looking Glass (Carroll) 66, 140n, 482

  tides, tide prediction 141–2, 156, 158

  Tiltman, J. H. 204

  Times, The 347–8, 357, 386, 405–6

  Titchmarsh, E. C. 141–2, 155, 409

  Tizard, H. 392

  Tolstoy 308, 475–6

  Tootill, G. C. (Geoff) 390, 392, 398–9, 402

  topology 90, 118, 341, 441, 495

  Toulmin, S. 482, note 6. 50

  transistor 391n, 478

  Travis, E. 1
77–8, 195, 204, 220–1, 223, 231, 265, 333, 342, 376

  TRE (Telecommunications Research Establishment) 225–6, 340, 342, 349–50, 353, 390, 411–2

  treasure hunts 128, 142, 149, 397, 489

  Treasury 147, 161, 337, 342, 367

  trees, for decisions 213–4, 293, 360, 401n

  Trethowan, Illtyd 406

  Trinity College, Cambridge 41–4, 57, 71, 126

  Tripos (Cambridge degree) 60–1, 67, 88

  Trollope 287, 426, 475

  Trustram Eve, Herbert (uncle) 2, 8

  Trustram Eve, Jean (aunt) 2, 73n

  tube, vacuum see electronic; cathode ray tube

  Turing, origins of family 1, 14

  Turing, Alan Mathison:

  conceived in British India, born in London (1912)5;

  has primitive love of science 19;

  but is sent to public school (1926) 20;

  beats the system 32;

  and studies Einstein 33–4;

  loves Christopher, and joins human race 35;

  suffers death of Christopher (1930) 45;

  writes ‘Nature of Spirit’ at Cambridge 63

  is not of the Cambridge élite 74;

  but is Anti-war (1933) 71, 87;

  and has first affair 75–6;

  studies quantum mechanics and mathematical logic 79–86, 90–94;

  and becomes King’s College Fellow 94;

  invents Turing machine 96–98;

  to dispose of Entscheidungsproblem, deep result in mathematics 102;

  with implications for nature of mind and for the computer of the future 105–10;

  is drawn into world mathematics at Princeton (1936) 112–3, 117;

  but suffers frustrations 129;

  electrifies multiplication with cryptographic ideas 138;

  while pursuing abstruse ‘ordinal logics’ 142–3;

  also tackles the problems of prime numbers 135, 140–1;

  with a mechanical device 141, 155;

  turns down American opportunity (1938) 145–6;

  and is recruited to British government cryptanalysis, as its first mathematician 146;

  sponsors boy refugee 150–1;

  joins up at Bletchley Park (1939) 160;

  helps make machines to break Enigma, key to all German communications 181;

  heads work on naval Enigma 187, 195;

  develops new statistical methods 196–7

  with direct impact on Atlantic war (1941) 198;

  engaged to fellow cryptanalyst, breaks off 206, 216;

  is chief analyst at Bletchley Park in 1942 crises 227–8;

  is highest level liaison between Britain and United States, visiting Washington and New York 244, 247;

  returns amidst Atlantic convoy fiasco (March 1943) 253, 260;

  turns away from Bletchley Park 268;

  takes on advanced speech scrambler of his own 273;

  has claim as originator of electronic digital computer 295;

  but comes second to American developments 304–5;

  is recruited to National Physical Laboratory (1945)307;

  submits report with detailed, original, ambitious computer plan 333;

  persuades NPL of plan (1946) 336;

  but sees nothing happen 356;

  meanwhile develops ideas of ‘intelligent machinery’ and robots 357–61, 377–82;

  becomes Marthon runner 369;

  returns for refreshment and another affair at Cambridge (1947–8) 370–3;

  then cuts losses at NPL 376–7;

  and takes up difficult position at Manchester (1948) 390;

  turns aside from computers, uncertain of direction 394, 403, 413;

  writes classic paper on machine intelligence with ‘imitation game’ as Turing Test (1950)415–26;

  finds new field in biology 429–30;

  for which computer is used 445;

  but breaks laws of sex and class 448–50;

  is found out after burglary 455;

  goes to trial (March 1952) 471;

  is treated scientifically, with female hormones 473;

  seems to beat the system again 476;

  and analyses dreams 481;

  but fails to explain sinister ‘Kjell crisis’ (1953)483;

  sends messages from the unseen world 512;

  and dies of cyanide poisoning (June 1954) 487;

  without revealing the secret world 502–3

  Turing, Arthur (uncle) 2, 496

  Turing, Ethel Sara (née Stoney) (mother):

  early life 3–4;

  and AMT’s schooling 7, 10, 19–20;

  school letters and holidays 11–21, 387n;

  independence of husband 16, 25, 369;

  has Stoney view of science 16, 41, 120, 520;

  links with Mrs Morcom 46–51, 53, 59;

  and AMT’s ideas 111n, 114, 120, 152, 294, 439;

  social manners, presents, relations, church etc. 73n, 126, 132, 151–2, 206, 208, 268, 346;

  and AMT’s war work 239–40, 242;

  takes in AMT’s washing 354;

  and AMT’s Manchester life 439–40, 454, 484, 490, 509;

  and trial 463–4, 481;

  reaction to AMT’s death 488–9, 491, 491n, 496, 523, 528

  biographer and memorialist 531–3, 536, 536n

  Turing, Fanny (née Boyd) (grandmother) 2

  Turing, Harvey D. (uncle) 2

  Turing, John F. (brother): birth 5;

  boyhood relation with AMT 8–11, 18, 19, 33;

  later tenuous contacts 114, 239, 369;

  and trial 463–4;

  and AMT’s death 488, 491, 528

  Turing, John Robert (grandfather) 2, 369, 488

  Turing, Julius Mathison (father):

  early life 2–3;

  as ICS father 7–10;

  premature resignation 15;

  and AMT’s schooling 25, 32, 41;

  visits Morcoms 63;

  life after illness 88, 144, 151;

  death 369;

  also 377, 464, 464n, 481–2

  Turing machines 96–99; used to define a ‘mechanical process’ 100–2;

  ‘state of mind’ interpretation 105–6;

  ‘instruction note’ interpretation 106–7;

  related to Post’s ‘worker’ 125;

  and relay multiplier 139–40;

  and cipher work 120, 164, 211;

  and to fundamentals of computer and machine intelligence 107–8, 290–3, 296–7, 383–4, 419;

  regarded as programs for Universal Turing Machine (q.v.) 102–3, 292–3, 319–20, 360, 381

  Turing, Sybil (aunt holding Relations Merit Diploma) 2, 132, 447, 454

  Turing Test 266, 415, 417

  Turingismus 230–1, 266

  Tutte, W. T. 230, 332n

  Twinn, Peter 151, 161, 193, 195

  types, logical theory of 85, 92, 119;

  AMT describes 215;

  further work on 355, 428, 454, 479, 491, 494

  typewriters, typing, AMT poor at 14, 145, 279, 283

  Typex l65, 166, 262

  U-boats see Atlantic, battle of

  Ulam, S. 129, 145

  Underhill, F. 128

  United States of America:

  early impact of 11, 86, 95;

  AMT’s prejudices 116;

  war changes relation with Britain 222, 235–6, 263;

  AMT is vital British liaison with 244, 247;

  is cleared for innermost secrets of 245, note 5.4;

  AMT in second place to 305;

  AMT sees as crude in problem-solving 352;

  further changes of relations 364, 386, 393, 506–7;

  AMT as American problem 508–9;

  see also Princeton; Bell Laboratories; Harvard, for AMT’s visits

  see also EDVAC, for origin of computer in

  Universal Turing Machine 102–3, 109–10, 124, 181n;

  related to computer 293–5, 297, 303–4, 307;

  AMT’s own references 318–21, 360, 381n


  Uttley, A. 349–50, 411

  valve, electronic see electronic

  Vernam, G. S., Vernam ciphers 228, 246, 270

  vetting, positive 502, 502n, 511

  ‘Victor’ see Beuttell, Victor F.

  Vienna 150–1, 193, 264

  violin, AMT plays 89, 414, 452, 463

  Virginia 142

  Vocoder 245–6, 274, 290

  voice, AMT’s strange 24, 61, 68, 209, 249, 396

  von Neumann, John:

  background 86, 95;

  contact with AMT 95, 117–8, 124, 126, 129–32, 145n, 355, 413, note 2.36, note 5.26;

  offers AMT post 144–5;

  compared with AMT 95, 441, 519;

  and nuclear weapons 302, 312, 363n, 519;

  and brain 343, 388, 403;

  and origin of computer 299–300, 302–5, 321, 324, 326, 328, 408;

  and development of computer 341–3, 353—6, 390n, 413; see also EDVAC; IAS;

  and game theory 212–3;

  and group theory 94–5, 129–30;

  and logic 85, 413;

  and numerical analysis 355;

  and quantum mechanics 67, 79–80, 107–8, 495–6;

  death 519n

  Waddington, C. H. 430, 477

  Waismann, F. 150

  Wald, A. 344

  Wales 17, 26, 193, 216, 387n, 388–9

  Walsh, Bernard 279, 345

  Walton Athletic Club 345, 395

  Wannier, G. H. 128

  war: Anti-War movement 70–1, 87;

  AMT not militarist 71, 87, 120;

  not pacifist 87, 120;

  G. H. Hardy’s views on 120–1;

  E. M. Forster’s on 254, 524;

  AMT as enigma of 253–5, 520, 526–7;

  see First World War; Second World War; Cold War

  War and Peace (Tolstoy) 475

  Ward, Colonel and Mrs 6, 8, 10

  Ward, Hazel 6, 447

  Wardlaw, C. W. 477

  Washington D. C. 142, 243–4, 248, 252

  Watson, Alister G. D. 109, 136, 153, 366, 495

  Watson, J. 410, 431

  Waugh, Alec 21, 27, 28, 309n

  Waugh, Evelyn 264, 309n

  Weaver, W. 300, 302

  Webb, Roy V. B. and Mrs Webb 427, 435, 454, 466, 490