'''Alexander Arnold Constantine Issigonis''' was born ininto the Greek community of [[Izmir|Smyrna]] (now Izmir) in [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman Turkey]]. His grandfather Demosthenis Issigonis migrated to Smyrna from [[Paros]] in the 1830s and through the work he did for the [[United Kingdom|British]]-built [[Turkish State Railways|Smyrna-Aydin Railway]], in the engineering works that he had established, had managed to acquire British nationality. Demosthenis's son (Alec's father) Constantine Issigonis (Κωνσταντίνος Ισηγόνης), was born, with British nationality, in Smyrna in 1872. Constantine studied in England, and later, passed his love of all things English on to his son. Alec's mother, Hulda Prokopp, could trace her origins back to [[Württemberg]] (now part of [[Germany]]).
Because Alec and his parents were British citizenssubjects, they were evacuated to Malta by [[Royal Marines|British Royal Marines]] in September, 1922, ahead of the Turkish re-possession of Smyrna at the end of the [[Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922)]]. Following the death of his father in 1922, Alec and his mother moved to the [[United Kingdom|UK]] in 1923. Alec studied engineering at [[Battersea Polytechnic]] in [[London]]. He failed his mathematics exams three times and subsequently called [[Pure mathematics|pure mathematics]] 'the enemy of every creative genius'.
Issigonis went into the motor industry as an engineer and designer working for [[Humber (car)|Humber]] and did some motor racing during the 1930s and 1940s. In 1936 he moved to the [[Morris (car)|Morris]] company working on an independent front suspension system for the [[Morris Motor Company|Morris 10]]. The war prevented this design from going into production but it was later used on the [[MG Y|MG Y Type]]. He worked on various projects for Morris through the war and towards its end started work on an advanced post war car codenamed ''Mosquito'' that became the [[Morris Minor]], which was produced from 1948 until 1971. In 1952 he moved to [[Alvis Cars]] where he designed an advanced saloon with all aluminium V-8 engine. This prototype was never manufactured because its cost was beyond Alvis's resources.
