Imitation Game: 10 things to know about Alan Turing and Bletchley Park

The biopic starring Benedict Cumberbatch returns tonight on Arte.

In Imitation GameBenedict Cumberbatch plays Alan Turing, a brilliant mathematician who helped crack the Enigma code, saving thousands of lives and shortening World War II by months. His tragic fate and scientific achievements made him a notorious figure in England, but he is relatively unknown outside of it. Here are ten points to catch up.

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1 – The Enigma machine was unbreakable for a long time.

During World War II, the Nazis programmed this machine to encode radio messages transmitted in Morse code on the various fronts. The codes were too long and complicated to decode with the means of the time. By the time they were deciphered, they were already obsolete. The Germans changed them every month, and printed them on sheets with water-soluble ink.

2 – The English were not the first to act

Of German origin, the Enigma encryption machine was marketed as early as the 1920s, for use not only for military purposes, but also for diplomatic and commercial purposes. Its reputation for inviolability naturally prompted many attempts to crack its secret, and the first to obtain significant results were the analysts of the Polish Intelligence Bureau, 7 years before the Second World War. It was thanks to their work that Alan Turing and the English cryptanalysts of Bletchley Park were able to make decisive progress in decoding the machine.

3 – This is not the first time that this story has been adapted to the cinema.

The Enigma-breaking affair is a source of national pride in England and has given rise to several plays and television films. Robert Harris (the author of Ghost Writer) wrote a novel based on the events. Mick Jagger bought the rights and, as producer, entrusted its adaptation for the cinema to the screenwriter Tom Stoppard while Michael Apted directed the film, with Dougray Scott and Kate Winslet in the main roles.

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4 – The Turing machine helped speed up the design of the computer

This is the “Good” war side: just as aeronautics advanced by leaps and bounds during World War II, opening the door to aerospace technologies, the efforts to invent calculators capable of decrypting Enigma paved the way for computer science. Turing was one of the major pioneers with his machine.

5 – The Turing test was designed to support the hypothesis of artificial intelligence.

To prove that machines had the ability to think (or imitate human conversation), Turing devised a test that involved putting two humans and a computer into verbal communication. If the human engaging in the conversation could not tell which of the two people was a computer, then it could be concluded that the computer's software had passed the test. The test was inspired by “imitation game” which involves isolating a man and a woman in separate rooms while guests ask them questions. The man must answer to make it appear that he is a woman and the guests must guess who is who.

6 – Towards technological singularity: Turing and his friends may have found the last human invention

Statistician Irving John Good (played by James Northcote in The Imitation Game) worked at Bletchley Park with Turing and contributed to the creation of another type of computer called Colossus. His work on artificial intelligence inspired him in the 1960s to the idea of ​​the technological singularity, which anticipates the possible consequences of the use of computers. Basically, the acceleration of the computing capacity of machines will eventually reach a point where machines will be able to reproduce themselves. At that point, machines will take over human intelligence. This led Good (relayed by Carl Sagan and Stephen Hawking) to say that the computer may be the last human invention. Some hardcore theorists believe that the technological singularity will occur by the third decade of the 21st century.

7 – Turing may not have committed suicide

On June 7, 1954, Turing was found dead in his bed, poisoned by cyanide. The police concluded that he had committed suicide, and his family believed that it was the result of the physical and psychological suffering he had endured following the chemical castration to which the authorities had sentenced him. However, his mother questioned the suicide theory. Turing routinely handled cyanide for his experiments, and his notorious disorder could explain an accident.

8 – Apple's logo is not a tribute to Turing

The way Turing died, with a half-bitten apple next to him, is said to have inspired the half-bitten apple that serves as the logo of the computer manufacturer Apple. Steve Jobs reluctantly denied this, saying: “We would have liked it to be true.”

9 – It took 61 years for Turing to be officially pardoned by the Queen

Many voices were raised to condemn the English justice system, given Turing's contributions not only to the war effort but especially to scientific advances. But the complaints were never taken into account given that the 1952 conviction for homosexuality was based on texts then in force. It was only on Christmas Eve 2013 that the Queen officially cleared Turing's memory.

10 – Turing was an Olympic class runner

In 1948 he placed fifth in a marathon, running it in 2 hours 46 minutes. The top three finishers were selected to represent England at the Olympic Games that year.

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