The Enigma Machine Cracker is an Enigma itself.

Alan Turing is a famous British computer scientist, known for developing many prototypes for computers and for cracking the Nazi Enigma Machine. Last night, Bwogger Elana Rebitzer attended a lecture given by his nephew (and biographer) Sir Dermot Turing. 

Until last night, whenever I heard the name Alan Turing, I had a vague idea that he had something to do with computers, but that was about all I knew. Nonetheless, this lecture by his nephew and biographer, Sir Dermot Turing, was a fascinating introduction to his life.

As I learned last night, Alan was a brilliant mathematician. During his time as a post-doctorate fellow at the University of Cambridge in England, he came up with the idea for a programmable computing machine. For those of us who had no concept of how big of a deal that was, Dermot compared this to the idea of creating one kitchen appliance that could serve as a tea kettle, dishwasher, and frying pan all at once.

Years later, during World War II, Alan played a pivotal role in cracking the german codes stored in the Enigma Machine by building a device to test all of the different possible ways in which an Enigma Machine could be set up. That breakthrough was essential for the Allies throughout the rest of the war.

After the Enigma breakthrough, Turing continued to create blueprints for computers. At this point, the lecture got pretty technical, and I had a hard time following exactly what Dermot was saying about the rest of Turing’s technical work.

Finally, Dermot briefly touched on a sadder part of Turing’s life. He was indicted in 1952 on charges of homosexual activity, which at the time was illegal in England. At his trial, he pled guilty, and to avoid going to prison, allowed himself to be given hormone treatment to “cure” him. He died a few years later of cyanide poisoning, and whether or not his death was accidental or by suicide is a matter of much debate.

On a slightly lighter note, Turing was pardoned a few years ago, and more recently, the current British government has passed a new law that will allow other people indicted for the same crime to be pardoned as well.

Though the prepared lecture was still interesting, I was much more intrigued by Dermot’s answers to the audience questions. He is a very charismatic speaker, peppering his speech with topical references and jokes. When someone asked about “The Imitation Game”, a movie starring Keira Knightley and Benedict Cumberbatch, Dermot responded: “I hope you enjoyed the movie, It’s got great stars in it, [but] if you want to watch a documentary, you stay home and watch the History Channel.” He then went on to explain that the movie did a good job of piquing interest in Turing’s life, but that it misrepresented the chronology of the Enigma Machine story.

Dermot was especially candid when he was asked the more personal questions, such as how it felt for him to write a biography of his own uncle. He called the experience “oddly enjoyable”, and he explained that he learned a lot about his family as well as the anti-gay hormonal treatments that Alan underwent. When asked about Alan’s death, Dermot explained that he believes that Alan did commit suicide. He claims the idea that Alan’s death was an accident was created by his father (Alan’s brother) to help alleviate the guilt and grief Alan’s mother felt.

Since I came into the lecture with no prior knowledge about Alan Turing, not even having seen the movie, I had a hard time following many of the more technical and specific elements of the presentation. Despite this, I was very engaged in the lecture, and I left intruiged to learn more about Turing’s life and work (and perhaps even read Dermot’s book!)

Enigma Machine Cracker via Expert Reviews