The Woman Who Smashed Codes

by Jason Fagone

As he had done on his previous visit to Bletchley, William kept a detailed diary. One entry described a meeting with Alan Turing: “At 1535 a visit with Dr. Turing. He is leaving GC&CS, to my surprise. Says he’s going into electronic calculating devices and may come to the U.S. for a visit soon. Invited him to visit us if he comes to Washington.” This turned out to be the final encounter of William Friedman and Alan Turing. The two geniuses would never see each other again. In 1952, the British government stripped Turing’s security clearance on grounds that he was a homosexual, and officials coerced him into taking estrogen injections. Turing’s maid later found him dead of an apparent suicide, a half-eaten apple by the side of his bed, traces of cyanide in his blood. A government witch hunt had destroyed one of the war’s greatest heroes.