It's a little late for an apology to Alan Turing

[pokerfan]

Alan Turing was the greatest computer scientist ever born in Britain. He laid the foundations of computing, helped break the Nazi Enigma code and told us how to tell whether a machine could think.

He was also gay. He was prosecuted for being gay, chemically castrated as a 'cure', and took his own life, aged 41.

The British Government should apologize to Alan Turing for his treatment and recognize that his work created much of the world we live in and saved us from Nazi Germany. And an apology would recognize the tragic consequences of prejudice that ended this man's life and career.

http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/08/its_a_little_late_for_an_apolo.php

[omega minimo]

1. wow

[pokerfan]

3. Yeah, I had no idea

1952 isn't even that long ago. Savages.

In January 1952 Turing picked up the 19-year-old Arnold Murray outside a cinema in Manchester. After a lunch date, Turing invited Murray to spend the weekend with him at his house, an invitation which Murray accepted although he did not show up. The pair met again in Manchester the following Monday, when Murray agreed to accompany Turing to the latter's house. A few weeks later Murray visited Turing's house again, and apparently spent the night there.<32>

After Murray helped an accomplice to break into his house, Turing reported the crime to the police. During the investigation Turing acknowledged a sexual relationship with Murray. Homosexual acts were illegal in the United Kingdom at that time,<5> and so both were charged with gross indecency under Section 11 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885, the same crime that Oscar Wilde had been convicted of more than fifty years earlier.<33>

Turing was given a choice between imprisonment or probation conditional on his agreement to undergo hormonal treatment designed to reduce libido. He accepted chemical castration via estrogen hormone injections,<34> which lasted for a year. Turing's conviction led to the removal of his security clearance, and barred him from continuing with his cryptographic consultancy for GCHQ. At the time, there was acute public anxiety about spies and homosexual entrapment by Soviet agents, possibly due to the recent exposure of the first two members of the Cambridge Five, Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean, as KGB double agents. Turing was never accused of espionage but, as with all who had worked at Bletchley Park, was prevented from discussing his war work.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing#Conviction_for_gross_indecency

[NYC_SKP]

2. Thank you and RIP, Alan Turing.

[slutticus]

4. OMG

I never knew this about Alan Turing. I've always been fascinated by the universal turing machine.

Those sick fucks....

[tblue37]

5. Just think of what else he might have accomplished if he had not been driven to suicide.

It reminds me of all the brilliant Jews who were murdered or driven out of Germany and Austria by Hitler. They had so much to contribute to society, but as with Turing, people's prejudices were so virulent that they were unable to get past them.

It also reminds me of all the desperately needed Arab linguists that our stupid armed forces keep discharging as soon as it is discovered that they are gay.

So much waste of precious human value!

[Liberal_in_LA]

6. There is a movie about his life - I'm too lazy to google it right now

[tkmorris]

7. Breaking the Code?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115749/

[Liberal_in_LA]

10. yes. Great movie. Sad too

[pokerfan]

12. Thanks, I will look for it

[glitch]

27. Excellent movie, better bring your tissues. nt

[pokerfan]

31. Watched it last night

Heartbreaking.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breaking_the_Code

[Heidi]

8. Recommended.

:kick:

[Starry Messenger]

9. kick.

[grantcart]

11. kick

[Odin2005]

13. K&R

[Vidar]

14. K&R for a betrayed hero.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

15. K & R

*sigh* :cry:

[byronius]

16. Arguably the single individual most responsible for winning WWII.

Neal Stephenson's characterization of him in 'Cryptonomicon' was brilliant.

Winston Churchill was his greatest advocate, BTW.

[pokerfan]

18. Thanks

I will look for that.

[yodermon]

21. +1 on Cryptonomicon

:thumbsup:

[oldironside]

22. It's either him or Dr RV Jones,

but Turin's contribution to breaking Enigma is impossible to overestimate. The code breaking teams in Bletchley Park could often read their decripts before the Germans they were actually intended for. The question wasn't "how can we use this information" but rather "how much should we use to avoid compromising ourselves".

If he were living today he'd have knighthood, but in the 50's Britain was an unbelievably conservative place. Victorian morality still ruled and the idea of sex as fun was simply a foreign plot to destroy the Empire.

"I am happy now that George calls on my bedchamber less frequently than of old. As it is, I now endure but two calls a week, and when I hear his steps outside my door I lie down on my bed, close my eyes, open my legs and think of England."
Lady Alice Hillingdon (1857-1940)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ivsb79-h90

(Err, this link is a parody, by the way)

[Tsar_Bomba]

17. I knew Turing was gay

I didn't know he was prosecuted for it. He saved Churchill's ass in WW2 and look how he was treated.

[AspenRose]

19. Oh my God.

:-(

[AntiFascist]

20. K&R! n/t

[pokerfan]

23. more from the manchester evening news

"It is atrocious that we don't recognise this man and the only way to do so is to apologise to him. This man was a national treasure and we hounded him to his death.

"One of the things for people in the computing world is that he was part of the war effort but we don't give him recognition in the same way as other heroes. To me, he was a hero in the second world war."

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/s/1132035_campaign_to_win_official_apology_for_alan_turing

[tbyg52]

24. K, R, & R.I.P

:cry:

[readmoreoften]

25. K&R.

Yup. A little piece of gay history you never hear about. There's a lot more where that came from.

[SpookyCat]

26. Thank you for posting that.

I did not know this. That's horrible beyond words. :cry:

[winyanstaz]

28. We are all related.....it is past time to accept our brothers and sisters

for who they are.

[ruggerson]

29. Well at least the Brits let gays serve in the military

57 years later and we still don't.

You're right. The Queen should knight him posthumously.

[mwooldri]

30. Thank you for this revelation.

I didn't know Turing was gay and ended up taking his own life - but then I didn't know much about the man at all.

Fortunately the light has been seen and "teh gay" is no longer the problem it was then (still is an issue with some members of society but still...). But yep too late for an apology but some honour should be given if it hasn't been already.

Mark.

[Spazito]

32. Wow, too late for an apology, indeed, but NOT too late...

to, at the very least, honour this true hero posthumously.

Thanks for posting this, I didn't know much about Alan Turing beyond his work at breaking the Enigma code.

Recommended.

[DU GrovelBot]

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