Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-wzw2p Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-02T14:44:03.091Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

4 - Alan Turing and the Enigma Machine

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 2022

Emily Joan Ward
Affiliation:
University of Edinburgh
Robin Reuvers
Affiliation:
Università degli Studi Roma Tre
Get access

Summary

Puzzles and codes have multifaceted uses in practices of concealment, especially for militaristic purposes, corporate secrecy, or national security.The term ‘Enigma’ is perhaps most recognisable in modern history and contemporary culture as the name of a cipher device used by the German military to send messages during World War II. This chapter moves to the historical context of the twentieth century and shows how humans sometimes deliberately engineer enigmas to serve their own purposes. The author focuses on the mathematics underpinning the story of the Enigma Machine, setting out the process both of the code’s creation and of its decryption. Following the story of Alan Turing, a mathematician and one of the code breakers at Bletchley Park, the chapter emphasises both the necessity of collaborative labours to solve challenging problems and the importance of individual research and investigation to resolve crucial pieces of a much larger puzzle.

Type
Chapter
Information
Enigmas , pp. 82 - 103
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×