From left: Alan Turing, Benedict Cumberbatch, Stephen Hawking, and Eddie Redmayne.
Born June 23, 1912, London / Died June 7, 1954
Born Jan. 8, 1942, Oxford, England
Rank on the BBC'S Top 100 Great Britons
Turing: Helped crack the encryption of the German Enigma machine, which sent encoded military messages during World War II. Winston Churchill considered Turing's work to be crucial in winning the war.
Hawking: Explained black holes and the beginning of the universe in language we can almost understand in A Brief History of Time. The book stayed on the New York Times best-seller list for 147 weeks.
Greatest Accomplishment That's Named After Him
Turing: He created the Turing test as a means of gauging a computer's intelligence. The test, in which a computer attempts to fool a human into thinking he is talking to a real person, is still a benchmark for artificial intelligence.
Hawking: In 1974 he came up with the theory of black hole radiation, now called Hawking radiation, which is emitted from black holes and can lead to their eventual explosion.
Most Questionable Theory
Turing: He suggested putting participants in the Turing test in a telepathy-proof room in order to avoid the challenges posed by administering the test to those with ESP.
Hawking: In the 1980s Hawking proposed that, at the end of the universe, as it collapses into itself, time would run backwards. He has since withdrawn the claim.
Newest Movie About Him
Turing: In The Imitation Game (out Nov. 21), Benedict Cumberbatch plays Turing as a fun-to-watch, somewhat-endearing autistic genius wholly focused on cracking Enigma. His inability to function socially leads to some fun, subtle jokes—and makes you wonder about the editorial freedom it took to eventually make Turing a sympathetic character. Not that it matters. Even if no one could stand his company, we can all appreciate his work.
Hawking: The Theory of Everything (out Nov. 7) is not a sappy love story. Yes, there is a bit of that—the sweet interaction of a couple infatuated with each other, even if one of them needs to be untangled from sweaters he can no longer put on himself. But what you really get is a sense of a man everyone knows of but few of us know much about. Eddie Redmayne has as good a chance at an Oscar as Hawking does at being smarter than you.