Alan Turing: Cracking the Enigma code

The Enigma code was the result of the Nazi-used Enigma machine, a complex rotary device that scrambled various numbers and letters to create unpredictable, random codes, much like a primitive form of encryption. These machines were present in every Nazi sub, boat, and base and allowed the Nazis to communicate for a long time without having their plans intercepted. Early on in the war, the Polish Cipher group was able to decrypt some of the messages. However, the Germans modified and complicated their codes so much that the Polish could not keep up, and asked for the help of the Americans and the British. At the forefront of the British Code-Breakers was Alan Turing, a brilliant mathematician who is considered the father of modern computer science, mainly due to his work on the Enigma code. He was able, with a team, to build the first machine capable of running algorithms, or repeated lines of code or instruction. This machine was able to reduce the number of potential codes significantly, such that the Allies could figure out the rest of the more manageable code. This allowed countless messages to be intercepted and decrypted, boosting the Allied war effort. At the end of World War II, Winston Churchill, the prime minister, said of the codebreaking effort (nicknamed Ultra), “It was thanks to Ultra that we won the war”. Unfortunately, Alan Turing was prosecuted for homosexuality, and given chemicals designed to cure it that led to his young death. He was given a posthumous pardon by the Queen of England last October.