What is the summary of The Imitation Game?

In 1939, newly created British intelligence agency MI6 recruits Cambridge mathematics alumnus Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch) to crack Nazi codes, including Enigma — which cryptanalysts had thought unbreakable. Turing’s team, including Joan Clarke (Keira Knightley), analyze Enigma messages while he builds a machine to decipher them. Turing and team finally succeed and become heroes, but in 1952, the quiet genius encounters disgrace when authorities reveal he is gay and send him to prison.The Imitation Game / Film synopsis

Who was the spy in The Imitation Game?

John Cairncross
One of these was John Cairncross, who — after the end of the war — confessed to spying for the Soviet Union. Although much about his spying career is still murky, History Today would like to compare what we do know with the way Cairncross was portrayed m the film.

How does the Enigma code work?

The Enigma has an electromechanical rotor mechanism that scrambles the 26 letters of the alphabet. In typical use, one person enters text on the Enigma’s keyboard and another person writes down which of the 26 lights above the keyboard illuminated at each key press.

What did The Imitation Game get wrong?

At the end of The Imitation Game, filmmakers state that Turing committed suicide at age 41, apparently attributing the cause to the chemical castration he underwent. But the reality is not so clear cut.

Is Enigma a true story?

Although the story is highly fictionalised, the process of encrypting German messages during World War II and decrypting them with the Enigma is discussed in detail, and the historical event of the Katyn massacre is highlighted. It was the last film scored by John Barry.

How did Alan find out John was a spy?

Bookmark this question. Show activity on this post. In the Imitation Game (2014), Alan Turing finds out that his associate John Caincross is a Soviet spy after reading a passage bookmarked in the Bible.

How do you decode an Enigma message?

To decrypt a message, one needs not only an Enigma machine, but also the knowledge of the starting state, i.e. at which positions the wheels were when the text was typed in. To decrypt the message, the machine must be set to the same starting state, and the cipher text is entered. Output is the plain text.

Why was the Enigma code so important?

An Enigma machine is a famous encryption machine used by the Germans during WWII to transmit coded messages. An Enigma machine allows for billions and billions of ways to encode a message, making it incredibly difficult for other nations to crack German codes during the war — for a time the code seemed unbreakable.

How did Alan Turing’s friend died?

Turing is summoned into the headmaster’s office, and is told coldly that the object of his affection has died of bovine tuberculosis. The film is right that this awful event had a formative impact on Turing’s life. In reality, though, Turing had been warned before his friend died that he should prepare for the worst.

How long did it take Alan Turing to break Enigma?

Using AI processes across 2,000 DigitalOcean servers, engineers at Enigma Pattern accomplished in 13 minutes what took Alan Turing years to do—and at a cost of just $7.

How did Alan Turing break Enigma?

While there, Turing built a device known as the Bombe. This machine was able to use logic to decipher the encrypted messages produced by the Enigma. However, it was human understanding that enabled the real breakthroughs. The Bletchley Park team made educated guesses at certain words the message would contain.

Did Alan Turing really break the Enigma code?

As early as 1943 Turing’s machines were cracking a staggering total of 84,000 Enigma messages each month – two messages every minute. Turing personally broke the form of Enigma that was used by the U-boats preying on the North Atlantic merchant convoys. It was a crucial contribution.

Is Enigma still unbreakable?

The key to the individual code was sent in the first characters of the message, coded in the base code. This created over 53 billion possible combinations, changing every 24 hours. Because of this, the machine was widely considered unbreakable.

Who was Alan Turing’s first love?

At Sherborne, Turing formed a significant friendship with fellow pupil Christopher Collan Morcom (13 July 1911 – 13 February 1930), who has been described as Turing’s “first love”.

What is Enigma I?

Enigma I is also known as the Wehrmacht, or “Services” Enigma, and was used extensively by German military services and other government organisations (such as the railways) before and during World War II . Heinz Guderian in the Battle of France, with an Enigma machine. Note one soldier is keying in text while another writes down the results,

How was the Enigma code broken?

The Enigma code was first broken by the Poles, under the leadership of mathematician Marian Rejewski, in the early 1930s. In 1939, with the growing likelihood of a German invasion, the Poles turned their information over to the British, who set up a secret code-breaking group known as Ultra, under mathematician Alan M. Turing.

What was the purpose of the Enigma cipher?

What is Enigma? Enigma was a cipher device used by Nazi Germany’s military command to encode strategic messages before and during World War II. Why was Enigma so hard to break?

What is the best book on Enigma?

The Story of the ENIGMA: History, Technology and Deciphering, 2nd Edition, CD-ROM, 2004, Artifax Books, ISBN 1-890024-06-6 sample pages Rebecca Ratcliffe: Searching for Security. The German Investigations into Enigma’s security. In: Intelligence and National Security 14 (1999) Issue 1 (Special Issue) S. 146–167. Ratcliffe, Rebecca (1 January 2005).