A Synopsis of the Book Alan Turing and his Contemporaries: Building the World's First Computers

To mark the centenary of the birth of Alan Turing, the British Computer Society has published a book written by members of the Computer Conservation Society. The book examines Alan Turing's contribution to the implementation of practical stored-program digital computers and the relation between Turing and the other computer pioneers active in the period 1945–55. In this invited article, the book's Editor gives an overall view of the subject, focussing particularly on Alan Turing's special contributions in the first decade of the Information Age.