Nicker on 23/6/2012 at 21:05
Arguably the great-granddaddy of modern computing. Arguably responsible for shortening WW2 by several years. Arguably one of the most brilliant minds and spirits of his time.
Persecuted for his homosexuality by the very intelligence establishment he served and driven to suicide in the country who owed him the lives of countless citizens.
Happy Birthday, Alan Turing.
Thank you for your tireless work and sacrifice in the name of a freedom you were never allowed to share.
demagogue on 23/6/2012 at 21:14
*psst* I don't think he can hear you.
Turing is okay in my book -- inventing modern computing and the Turing Test for conscious robots, cracking the Nazi code of evil -- he's like a proto-cyberpunk superhero.
nickie on 24/6/2012 at 07:10
There's an argument that he didn't actually commit suicide and that it was (
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18561092) an accident. Regardless, he was shockingly treated.
Quote:
At a conference in Oxford on Saturday, Turing expert Prof Jack Copeland will question the evidence that was presented at the 1954 inquest. He believes the evidence would not today be accepted as sufficient to establish a suicide verdict.
Quote:
Prof Copeland believes the alternative explanation made at the time by Turing's mother is equally likely. Turing had cyanide in his house for chemical experiments he conducted in his tiny spare room - the nightmare room he had dubbed it . . . And he was known for tasting chemicals to identify them.
Perhaps he had accidentally put his apple into a puddle of cyanide. Or perhaps, more likely, he had accidentally inhaled cyanide vapours from the bubbling liquid.
demagogue on 24/6/2012 at 13:18
It's an interesting mystery. Suicide by a poison-laced Snow White apple is just more poetic.
nickie on 24/6/2012 at 13:47
I confess that when I first saw the link on the main BBC site which read 'Alan Turing's "suicide" in doubt', I immediately thought they'd found evidence he'd been murdered by MI5. :)
Tocky on 25/6/2012 at 03:41
Quote Posted by demagogue
It's an interesting mystery. Suicide by a poison-laced Snow White apple is just more poetic.
Perhaps he is still waiting for his prince charming to wake him with a kiss.
