Alan Turing, I salute you

[iain]

Alan Turing, one of the greatest computer scientists the world has ever seen, and someone without whom the Second World War might have turned out differently, committed suicide 50 years ago today.

He killed himself in his home in the town of Wilmslow, just a few miles from where I am now. He was driven to suicide by small-minded people and I feel ashamed to belong to the nation which drove him to his death.

The Register (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/06/07/manchester_honours_turing/) has a nice write-up and a couple of good links.

Alan Turing, I salute you.

[WorldBuilder]

Ditto, mate.

[garys_2k]

Originally posted by iain
... I feel ashamed to belong to the nation which drove him to his death.

Things have changed a lot since then. It really is a different world now.

[Rob Lister]

Originally posted by iain
He was driven to suicide...

I don't buy it. Happy fags abound, even then. A simple reuptake-inhibiter was all that was needed, too bad none existed at the time.

[evildave]

I'm sure just about anybody who happened to be a defacto international hero and would be a renouned genious in several fields (though unrecognized at the time for various 'security' reasons) who was just placed on a McCarthy-like blacklist that would forbid his working on anything like he did before might feel a little down about it.

It's not like you could pop into the electronics store and buy yourself a computer back then.