Alan Turing Pardoned

[jackfengshui]

It's a case of better late than never. Queen Elizabeth II finally pardoned Alan Turing today, over 50 years after the British government convicted him for being gay. He was chemically castrated and later committed suicide.

Turing was a brilliant mathematician and the father of modern computer science and artificial intelligence. He was also a master code-breaker who helped to break the German Enigma code during World War II. The most prestigious award in computer science today is named after him.

[jackfengshui]

I agree with this commentary that the pardon should apply to ALL individuals who were similarly convicted merely because of their sexual preference:

http://www.theguardian.com/commentis...-wrong-gay-men

[rooster]

Oscar Wilde was convicted of the exact same offense: "gross indecency." It's bad enough being legally persecuted for your sexual preference, but to be convicted of something called THAT adds a special note of cruelty.

Well, jack, it could be worse. Almost no one remembers this sad part in the man's life. Those of us who know of him know only that he was a genius almost beyond comparison. His posthumous reputation did ultimately triumph over this horrible thing that was done to him.

[jokacz]

Not to detract from Turing's contribution to cracking the enigma code, which by the way was based on the work of Polish mathematicians, ahem ahem, those interested should check this out, http://www.kpbs.org/news/2012/nov/19...s-lost-hereos/ Bill Tutte and Tommy Flowers are the real fathers of the modern digital computer. And they cracked a code much more difficult than enigma, but their work was so highly classified that they never received credit until recently.

[rooster]

Originally Posted by jokacz

..... Bill Tutte and Tommy Flowers are the real fathers of the modern digital computer......

Well... they may have developed the "modern digital" version, but THIS guy figured out much of this way before they did:

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

[jackfengshui]

Today, I heard on NPR a moving story about a 79-year-old former Marine with terminal cancer who was finally given his honorable discharge. In 1956, he was kicked out of the Marines with an "undesirable discharge" for being gay.

http://www.npr.org/2014/01/06/260020...a-dying-marine