Max Newman: topologist, codebreaker and pioneer of computing

The dominant discourse in the History of Computing holds that the world's first stored-program digital electronic computer--the Manchester "Baby"--was developed under the sole leadership and direction of the Department of Electro-Technics. This biography, which arises out of a detailed re-examination of the historical evidence, challenges the dominant account of the project and re-situates the mathematician M.H.A. Newman as its overall leader.