Originally published: London: Burnett, 1983.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

"Alan Turing was the mathematician whose cipher-cracking transformed the Second World War. Taken on by British Intelligence in 1938 [...] he combined logic with engineering. In 1940 his machines were breaking the Enigma-enciphered messages of Nazi Germany's air force. He then headed the penetration of the U-boat communications. Before the war he had invented the concept of the universal machine, and in 1945 he turned this into the first design for a digital computer. In 1952 his homosexuality rendered him a criminal and he was subjected to humiliating treatment. In 1954, aged 41 Alan Turing took his own life."--From publisher's description.