Monday, August 31, 2009

Who Is This Man?


This conversation over the binary electronic ether would not be possible without this man's work.

Without his work, there would be no computers and no Internet.

This man played a role almost as big as "The Few" and Churchill himself in saving the British bacon in World War II.

His work at Bletchley Park cracked the German codes and allowed the Allies to listen in on the secret communications of the Nazi high command.

And yet, after the War, his identity was kept secret. He was arrested on a "morals" charge for having a sexual relationship with another man. He was imprisoned, and forcibly "treated" with a chemical castration. He committed suicide soon after he was released.

There is now a campaign for a formal apology by the British government for the way it treated Alan Turing, a man who served his country much better than it ever served him.



2 comments:

Göran Koch-Swahne said...

British citizens only.

June Butler said...

Turing's is a terrible and tragic story. Not just an apology, but a knighthood, indeed!