Andrew Hodges

Hodges was born in London in 1949 and educated at Birkbeck, University of London, where he was awarded his Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1975[3] for research on twistor theory supervised by Roger Penrose.[1]

Since the early 1970s, Hodges has worked on twistor theory, which is the approach to the problems of fundamental physics pioneered by Roger Penrose. He was also involved in the gay liberation movement during this time.[4]

Hodges is best known as the author of Alan Turing: The Enigma, his biography of the British computer pioneer and codebreaker Alan Turing.[5] The book was critically acclaimed when it was first published in 1983, with Donald Michie in New Scientist calling it "marvellous and faithful".[6] In June 2002 it was chosen by Michael Holroyd for inclusion in a list of 50 "essential" books (available in print at the time) in The Guardian.[7]

Alan Turing: The Enigma formed the basis of Hugh Whitemore's 1986 stage play Breaking the Code, which was adapted for television in 1996, with Derek Jacobi as Turing. The book was later made into the 2014 film The Imitation Game directed by Morten Tyldum, starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Alan Turing.[8][9] The script for The Imitation Game won Graham Moore an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay at the 87th Academy Awards in 2015.

Hodges is also the author of works that popularise science and mathematics.

He is an emeritus tutorial fellow in mathematics at Wadham College, Oxford.[2][10] Having taught at Wadham since 1986, Hodges was elected a Fellow in 2007, and was appointed Dean of Wadham College from the start of the 2011/2012 academic year.

In 2014 he joined the Pet Shop Boys on stage at the Royal Albert Hall for a standing ovation following the world premiere of A Man from the Future[11] at The Proms.[12]