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(Photo credit: By permission of Oxford University Press)

Best known as the genius who broke some of Germany’s most secret codes during the Second World War, Alan Turing was also the father of the modern computer.

Alan Turing was born in London on 23 June 1912. Educated at Sherborne School in Dorset and at King’s College, Cambridge, he graduated in 1934 with a degree in Mathematics. Twenty years later, after a short but brilliant career, he died.

His ideas lived on, however, and at the turn of the millennium Time magazine listed him among the twentieth century’s 100 greatest minds, alongside the Wright Brothers, Albert Einstein, Alexander Fleming, and DNA busters Watson and Crick.

Today, all who click or touch to open are familiar with the impact of his dreams. We take for granted that we use the same piece of hardware to shop, manage our finances, type our memoirs, play our favourite music and videos, and send instant messages across the street or around the world.

With this single invention – the computer – Turing changed the world.

 In 1945 Turing drew up his revolutionary design for an electronic computing machine-his Automatic Computing Engine (’ACE’). A pilot model of the ACE ran its first program in 1950 and the production version, the ‘DEUCE’, went on to become a cornerstone of the fledgling British computer industry. The first ‘personal’ computer was based on Turing’s ‘electronic brain’.

This book contains first hand accounts by Turing, and by the pioneers of computing who worked with him, of the struggle to build what would become the world’s fastest computer.

As well as relating the story of the invention of the computer, the book clearly describes the hardware and software of the ACE-including the very first computer programs.

The book is intended to be accessible to everyone with an interest in computing, and contains numerous diagrams and illustrations as well as original photographs.

You can find further details of Alan Turing’s electronic brain on our catalogue.

Imagine playing a crucial role in winning the Second World War and not being able to tell your loved ones about it. This was the reality for the almost 10,000 men and women who worked at Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire, England, during the war years. Their work, cracking the German military code, was said by Eisenhower to have shortened the war by two years. Yet, until recently, they were unable to even speak of the work they had done.

This book gives us an insight into the lives of the extraordinary men and women who worked at Bletchley Park during the war. Through his interviews with those who worked there, Sinclair McKay brings the world of Bletchley alive. Interesting tales abound, from hushed arrivals in the middle of the night, to stories of the social side of Bletchley. Many were to meet their future spouses working there, although they still could not discuss their work with each other!

McKay’s work allows us a better understanding of the unique experience of working at Bletchley and the impact it had on the future of the many bright young people who came to work there. Many of them went on to achieve great things and their war experiences proved useful in this. They never let the secret slip about their war work however – until now!

You can find details of The Secret life of Bletchley Park on our catalogue.