The eccentric engineer [Time Out Columnist]

THIS IS MY 50th column for E&T and I´d like to use it to give a hooray to one of my engineering heroes who, sadly, rarely seems to get much recognition. Working at Bletchley Park during the Second World War was not a good way to become famous. The work was of the utmost secrecy and everyone signed the Official Secrets Act, so it´s perhaps not surprising that so little of what went on there ever leaked out. In recent years there has at least been some recognition given to the genius of Alan Turing, one of the finest mathematical minds of the century, whose work at Bletchley opened the door onto the modern world and who was, in turn, rewarded by his country with persecution that drove him to suicide.