Breaking the Code Breaking the Code Breaking the Code is a 1986 play by Hugh Whitemore about British mathematician Alan Turing, who was a key player in the breaking of the German Enigma code at Bletchley Park during World War II and a pioneer of computer science. The play thematically links Turing's cryptographic activities with his attempts to grapple with his homosexuality. It was adapted as a 1996 television film directed by Herbert Wise, with Derek Jacobi reprising his stage role as Turing. Following an eight-month run at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket in London's West End beginning on 21 October 1986, the play
Enigma machine military circles. The word "enigma" is a Latin word, derived from the Ancient Greek word enigma (αίνιγμα) used in English, but not native German. Like other rotor machines, the Enigma machine is a combination of mechanical and electrical subsystems. The mechanical subsystem consists of a keyboard; a set of rotating disks called "rotors" arranged adjacently along a spindle; one of various stepping components to turn at least one rotor with each key press, and a series of lamps, one for each letter. The mechanical parts act in such a way as to form a varying electrical circuit. When a key