British Gov't apologizes to Gay Codeb reaker Alan Turing

[Tock]

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Despite Alan Turing's genius, he still wouldn't qualify to join the US military today. Social conservatives would prefer to let Nazi Germany win a war than to integrate the military with gay people.
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British Gov't apologizes to Gay Codebreaker Alan Turing

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090911/..._codebreaker_5

LONDON – British Prime Minister Gordon Brown offered a posthumous apology Friday for the "inhumane" treatment of Alan Turing, the World War II codebreaker who committed suicide in 1954 after being prosecuted for homosexuality and forcibly treated with female hormones.

The mathematician helped crack Nazi Germany's Enigma encryption machine — a turning point in the war — and is considered a father of modern computing.

In 1952, however, Turing was convicted of gross indecency for having sex with a man and offered a choice between prison and "chemical castration" — the injection of female hormones to suppress his libido. His security clearance was revoked and he was no longer allowed to work for the government.
Two years later, he killed himself at age 41 by eating an apple laced with cyanide.

As Britain marks the 70th anniversary of the September 1939 start of the war — remembered as its "finest hour" — Brown said Turing "deserved so much better" than the treatment he received from postwar society.

"It is no exaggeration to say that, without his outstanding contribution, the history of World War II could well have been very different," Brown said. "He truly was one of those individuals we can point to whose unique contribution helped to turn the tide of war."

Brown said Turing was "in effect, tried for being gay." Homosexuality was illegal in Britain until 1967.
"The debt of gratitude he is owed makes it all the more horrifying, therefore, that he was treated so inhumanely," Brown said. "We're sorry, you deserved so much better."

Brown's apology follows an online petition that drew more than 30,000 supporters, including novelist Ian McEwan, scientist Richard Dawkins and actor and comedian Stephen Fry.

Computer scientist John Graham-Cumming said he started the petition campaign because Turing "wasn't as well known in Britain as I think he deserved to be, as a hero of the Second World War and a great mathematician."

Working at the wartime codebreaking center at Bletchley Park, Turing helped crack Germany's secret codes by creating the "Turing bombe," a forerunner of modern computers, to help reveal the settings for the Enigma machine.

Turing also did pioneering work on artificial intelligence, developing the "Turing Test" to measure whether a machine can think. One of the most prestigious honors in computing, the $250,000 Turing Prize, is named for him.

Graham-Cumming said Turing had a strong claim to the title "father of computing."
"He was thinking about what it meant to have a computer long before they existed," Graham-Cumming said. "He laid out the fundamental science of it."

Turing was among a motley group of mathematicians, cryptographers, crossword puzzle aficionados, chess masters and other experts assembled at a mansion called Bletchley Park, northwest of London, to wage a secret war against Nazi Germany. Their goal: cracking Adolf Hitler's supposedly unbreakable codes.

The team uncovered the secret to the Enigma machine and other ciphers used by the Nazi high command, revealing details of the movements of Germany's U-boat fleets and handing victory on the seas to the Allies.

Their work also provided crucial information in the desert campaign against German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel and the preparations for the Allied invasion of France.

"It is doubtful whether the D-Day landings would have happened, let alone succeeded," without Bletchley Park, said Kelsey Griffin, a director of the Bletchley Park museum.

She said Turing "stands alongside (Winston) Churchill as one of our great Britons."

Secrecy about the work at Bletchley Park, maintained long after the war was over, meant that for decades the role played by Turing and thousands of other codebreakers was not widely known.
Brown's apology, published on his office Web site, was seen as rare. The British government has resisted previous calls to apologize for historical events. In 2006, then-Prime Minister Tony Blair expressed "deep sorrow" for the slave trade, but stopped short of saying sorry.

Gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell said Brown's apology to Turing was "most welcome and commendable," but didn't go far enough.

"A similar apology is also due to the estimated 100,000 British men who were convicted of consenting, victimless same-sex relationships during the 20th century," Tatchell said.
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On the Net: Gordon Brown's apology: http://www.number10.gov.uk
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing

[Tock]

I don't know if it's true, but I've heard that Apple Computer's logo is a tribute to Alan Turing . . . a partially eaten apple . . .


Nevertheless, it IS true that if Alan Turing lived in Texas in 2009, Republicans would still want to throw him in prison:

http://www.texasgop.org/site/DocServ...pdf?docID=5841
(page 12)


Marriage Licenses

- We support legislation that would make it a felony to issue a marriage license to a same-sex couple and for any civil official to perform a marriage ceremony for such.

Homosexuality
– We believe that the practice of homosexuality tears at the fabric of society, contributes to the breakdown of the family unit, and leads to the spread of dangerous, communicable diseases. Homosexual behavior is contrary to the fundamental, unchanging truths that have been ordained by God, recognized by our country’s founders, and shared by the majority of Texans. Homosexuality must not be presented as an acceptable “alternative” lifestyle in our public education and policy, nor should “family” be redefined to include homosexual “couples.” We are opposed to any granting of special legal entitlements, refuse to recognize, or grant special privileges including, but not limited to: marriage between persons of the same sex (regardless of state of origin), custody of children by homosexuals, homosexual partner insurance or retirement benefits. We oppose any criminal or civil penalties against those who oppose homosexuality out of faith, conviction, or belief in traditional values.

Texas Sodomy Statutes
- We oppose the legalization of sodomy. We demand that Congress exercise its authority granted by the U.S. Constitution to withhold jurisdiction from the federal courts from cases involving sodomy.

[energizer bunny]

I think an apology was definately needed.....so much has changed since then public opinion wise.....i bet most of the general public back then would have agreed with his sentence.......

[Coop77]

Alan Turing was one of the greatest mathematicians/computer scientists of the 20th century. I remember studying Turing machines in college. The way he was treated is an embarrassment to Britain, especially considering the help he provided in the war.

[Kratos]

I don't know if it's true, but I've heard that Apple Computer's logo is a tribute to Alan Turing . . . a partially eaten apple . . .

[/FONT]

Nah it wasn't, I read the biography of steve jobs a couple years back. He's an interesting dude. It has to do with the fact he was a huge hippy type and spent his summers on an apple farm doing LSD. Also he was a huge fan of the beetles and admired the logo on their records. He and Steve Wozniak were trying to figure out a name for their new company, and they decided that if they couldn't think of one by the end of the day that was better than Apple, they would choose Apple. The logo is their 3rd attempt at a logo...first was sir Isaac Newton under a tree or something. Second was the apple without a bite out of it...but jobs thought it looked like an orange or god knows what.

It would have been cooler if what you said was true though.

[MuscleScience]

What exactly is a Gay Codeb Reaker???

[Flagg]

Interesting read Tock, and I have to say i've never heard of this before.

It's crazy to think that we declared war on Germany 70 years ago. Such a shame of the times though still, the man was a hero and treated like a pariah afterwards.

Edit: Reading to the bottom of the article, Brown appologising is rarity in British government, having very rarely appologised for anything perpetrated by the system during the 20th century. Tony Blair expressed "deep sorrow" for the slave trade, but stopped short of saying sorry. I have to give Gordon Brown some respect for this.

[Tock]

What exactly is a Gay Codeb Reaker???

Gay Codebreaker.

Typo.

[MuscleScience]

Gay Codebreaker.

Typo.

I thought it was code for something...LOL

BTW when did you move to Ft Worth???