Alan Turing was a bright British boy, and, as became apparent over the years, completely attracted to other boys.

Alan Turing was so bright that he wound up heading a major British cryptanalysis project, during WW II.

When the war was over, a lot of people gave major credit to Alan Turing, for helping to rescue Britain from the Nazis.

And then he began to be persecuted for his homosexuality.

This is a moment in time which I am unable to forget.  Turing bravely stepped forth, and helped his country to win the war with Nazi Germany and its Enigma machines.  While doing this, he helped to invent the modern computer.

But Alan Turing made some fatal mistakes (fatal in the Britain of the 1950's).  He picked up a boy, and the boy robbed him, so, naif that he was, he called the police.  The English police instead arrested HIM.

He was subected to "merciful treatment" -- that would be, submitting to massive injections of estrogen (female hormones).  Towards the end of his short life, he confided to friends, "I'm growing breasts!!"

He finally squirted a fatal poison (cyanide) into an orange and ate the orange.

Oh see what Britain will do for its war heroes.

yes we know about Alan Turing and is was a great tragedy. But is Britain alone in abandoning it's heroes ? I'm sure the CIA would do likewise.

More importantly. why are you torturing us ?

I think I could get up a line of chorus gals, singing:

     Duh, Mr. Lunchtime,
     Duh, Mr. Lunchtime,
     You started this shit.
     And now you want for it
     To be OVER.

Hodges does a bit better than Cates as Turing's biographer. Click there to see the web-site.

Those genuinely interested in evaluating Turing's life might like to try and catch a sighting of the BBC production "Breaking the Code"

Those who believe that the Americans won the war despite the British should remember that the film described at url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U-571_(film) known as  "U-571"  is a Hollywood fantasy.

I have read, and reviewed, the excellent bio by Hodges.

In fact, I was relying on him for every syllable I wrote.

So -- your point was?

Quote:

Those who believe that the Americans won the war despite the British should remember that the film described at url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U-571_(film) known as  "U-571"  is a Hollywood fantasy.

Big Straw Man emerges from Nowhere!

Henry Cate wrote:

So -- your point was?

My point?

Andrew Hodges does a bit of a better job than Henry Cates as Turing's biographer.

along the way of Alan Turing is a stadium called city of manchester stadium, aka eastlands and since the "take over" is now known as Middle Eastlands. Outside the stadium is a sculpture .the question is  WHAT IS THE LETTER?

Henry Cate wrote:

Alan Turing was a bright British boy, and, as became apparent over the years, completely attracted to other boys. .....He finally squirted a fatal poison (cyanide) into an orange and ate the orange......

Henry Cate wrote:

Yes, he probably does do a better job. I have read, and reviewed, the excellent bio by Hodges. In fact, I was relying on him for every syllable I wrote. So -- your point was?.....

Of Henry, wrong again, in at least one point!  It was not an orange, but an apple!

This pro-Britisher Turing posting rather negates your own earlier pro "we Americans invented everything to do with the computer and the internet" stance, too, doesn't it. As the American writer Cory Doctorow wrote on Turing's 96th birthday (24th June 2008): "Today would have been the 96th birthday of cryptologist, mathematician and father of almost everything digital Alan Turing. That he was persecuted for his homosexuality to the point of suicide is a crime and a tragedy. Remember today the man who, more than Steve Jobs or Bill Gates, is the reason you are now sitting at a computer, reading this very sentence."  

As for stories of how different countries treat their war heroes, how about this one?
"US Iraq war hero Joseph Dwyer dies of apparent drugs overdose. A US army medic who became a symbol of American heroism and integrity in the Iraq war has died of an apparent drugs overdose." (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/2270614/US-Iraq-war-hero-Joseph-Dwyer-dies-of-apparent-drugs-overdose.html). It concerns the lack of care given to veterans of the Iraqi conflict - and there is no excuse that he was gay!

Or "Questionable Treatment for Some Iraq Heroes. Veteran Care Under Review as More Than 22,000 Are Discharged With 'Pre-Existing' Personality Disorder, Which Some Say Developed During War (http://abcnews.go.com/WN/WoodruffReports/story?id=3368726)?

Henry Cate wrote:

Oh see what Britain will do for its war heroes.

Not doing, did - 60 years ago!

And see what the US is doing now for its war heroes!

what ?..no place for the 11 million Russian soldiers who defeated the German army ?

Quote:

Of Henry, wrong again, in at least one point!  It was not an orange, but an apple!

Wow, that is really an IMPORTANT point, cottman.  Supremely important.  It was not an apple, it was a...POMEGRANATE!!!

As for Turing's importance to the invention of the computer, evidently you have not read what I posted earlier.  In reference to the computer, all I said was that "America played an important role in the invention of the computer."  I also mentioned Turing in glowing terms, as well as John von Neumann, and basically said that America's role was important in bringing the principal players together, and then (shudder) commercializing the result.

The only invention which I claimed for America was the MICROCOMPUTER.  Although, in retrospect, I should probably have included the minicomputer as well.

I must admit that it would be nice to read some comments about European contributions to the development of computers which were not forced to go back into history a half-century old.

How about NOW?

In my opinion, the most successful manufacturer of small computers in Europe is a company called Nokia!   :-)

Well, Henry, it was YOU who claimed to rely on Hodges "for every syllable" you wrote, so I just called you on it. And, of course, as you do, you returned the favor by largely ignoring the rest of my posting, which was on an issue you started.

As for European contributions to computers within the last half-century, as you mentioned Nokia, can I return the favor by recalling an earlier posting on the Apple iPod, the technology of which was invented by a Briton, as Apple admits? See "Apple admit Briton DID invent iPod, but he's still not getting any money," http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1053152/Apple-admit-Briton-DID-invent-iPod-hes-getting-money.html?ITO=1490

See, too, for contemporary European investment in computers, "Europe speeds up industrial research in Micro-Computers," http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/08/283m, Brussels, 22 February 2008.  € 2.5 billion is not small change, is it?

homintern is on your IGNORE list.

The invention of the computer was of course important.  But, Bill Gates' 'invention' (if that's the right word) of DOS (disc operating system) led the way to our ability, through the various Windows programs,  to use the computer the way we do today.  

Now, before you-all beat me up too bad, I'm not an expert for sure.  But, the discussions above all seem to be about a mechanical thing which doesn't work worth beans without software.  So, I thought I'd point this out.

Well I don't know who contributed what to the computer but thank them all the same..

however there is one very important Barak Obama policy that should have every Yank voting for him for it , just alone.

And that is his Green energy program..turning alternative energy into a vast program that could see the USA as the leaders in an industry that is going to dominate.

Solar energy is now like the computer was 20-30 years ago. It's leaping ahead so quickly that in 10 years it will dominate. Germany is streaming ahead but the USA has the manpower, the scientists and the capacity to make the US the leading producers and provide millions of jobs at the same time.

If it passes up on this and allows China to do what it does best-nick everyone elses idea and quickly put into practise..and Silly Palin's "drill baby drill" is the go, then we really are going to see the US decline even quicker.

So get out there Henry Cate and vote for Obama..come on, even you must know the idea of a doddering McCain who doesn't know which way is up and a nutcase like that Palin dame would be a disaster.