Alan Turing was not only the saint of computer science, creating the mathematical framework for the field, and hence, the modern world; but he was also the single human most responsible for winning WWII for the Allies. You see, he deciphered the "Enigma Machine," not to mention diverse other German codes, with the result that for the last five (5) years of WWII we could read the Germans' most secretest transmissions. With this knowledge, we won. For this astonishing feat, the British awarded him with, uh, well, they discovered in 1952 that he was homosexual, and so not only chemically castrated him, but also fired him. He killed himself two years later.
Today he would have turned 92.
Happy Birthday.
2 comments:
why do we torment the most bright and sensitive stars in the sky. this post make me wish i was gay. long live turing!
Proof that being brilliant, obviously, grants no evolutionary benefit. Did you know that he created house chess? Rules, make a chess move, run around the house. By the time you reached the chess board, your opponent had to have made his/hers (damn engilsh) move. All hail St. Turing.
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