I'll drink to that!
Quite possibly the first sensible Olympics-related suggestion I've heard.
The campaigner who led a successful effort last year to secure a public apology for the UK government's mistreatment of Alan Turing is calling for recognition of the celebrated cryptographer during the 2012 London Olympics. Turing's work as a code-breaker in Bletchley Park during the war and in establishing the foundations for …
Don't get me wrong - Turing was a great man in the IT field, and what happened over his lifestyle is a disgrace. However, he had *nothing* to do with the Olympics - he didn't even qualify when he tried out. Even the Greeks (mentioned in the article) named their stadium after an *Olympian*.
So no, Turing should *not* be honoured / remembered / whatever at the Olympics.
Turing was an accomplished marathon runner.. narrowly missed being selected for Olympics.. despite being a kick-ass mathematician. Also, centenary. Connection made, thankyouverymuch.
Turing may not have been the only codebreaker at BP but he was the only one to be a good marathon runner, possibly the only one who was born in 1912 and probably the only one to be persecuted and driven to suicide by the country he saved.
Lets not try to sweep it under the carpet, he was a great man, the fact that we did him wrong doesn't make him any less of a great man.
"Team" being the operative word. Wither Welchman and Keen, for example? (Turing didn't design the Bombe from scratch: it was derived from an older, Polish device, called the "bomba". And Turing only designed a few bits of it.)
Some people seem to think Turing invented the entire IT industry single-handed. His homosexuality is also something many have latched onto—yet nobody has insisted on a formal, government-led "apology" to Oscar Wilde.
Turing was one of *many* pioneers who built the modern ICT industry, but he wasn't perfect. His "Turing Test" is pathetically anthropocentric and utterly useless as a measure of intelligence, artificial or otherwise.
There's also something to be said for the possibility that Turing's overly math-centric approach to computing has done almost as much harm as good to the IT industry: Hardware has progressed in leaps and bounds, but software development tools have barely changed since the late 1960s. We're still using operating systems based on early '70s designs, but we're running them on computers many orders of magnitude more powerful and complex than their 1970s counterparts. This is not healthy for the long-term future of the industry and must change.
Turing was certainly a genius in his preferred fields, but being a pioneer is mostly a matter of being in the right place at the right time.
Ask Richard Trevithick, who was the right person, in the right place, at the *wrong* time, and therefore died penniless after inventing the steam locomotive. (The railway as we know it today wasn't feasible until the invention of a good *wrought iron* process. Cast iron rails were too brittle.)
I’m not sure how many El Reg readers would fall into the category of person “thinking Turing invented the entire IT industry single-handed.” Some people might think Bill Gates is the best computer person in the world EVAH because more people use Windows, but it’s not necessary to point out why this isn’t a case in a story that mentions him but makes no such claims.
Yes, I think most would agree that being a pioneer is a matter of being in the right place at the right time and not everyone who deserves credit gets it, but no one was disputing that were they?
The comparison with Wilde is rather fatuous. Although Turing and Wilde were found guilty of the same offence, there was over 55 years between the court cases so it’s hardly as if these were contemporary affairs. Also, why they were charged differed somewhat – Wilde because he made a spectacularly ill-advised charge of criminal libel against the Marquis of Queensberry, Turing because he had been burgled but deemed to be the real danger.
Additionally, I think many feel the idea of ‘curing’ homosexuality by chemical castration particularly repellent and the fact Turing was deemed to be a security risk because he was homosexual but, alas, not a Russian spy.
We already have the Alan Turing award, and have done for nearly 50 years! As he is noted for his computing/crypto advances first, homosexuality second and running ability third, I think that the current Turing Award is the most relevant!
As to Brown not pardoning him... I think it would have been a sticky situation for him to pardon Turing as it is giving legitimacy to the fact that homosexuality used to be a crime, which would no doubt enrage certain people more than to let that aspect lie.
Not to mention, is it possible to pardon someone of a crime that they committed, regardless of how ridiculous the crime appears 60 years on?
There was some talk a while back of pardoning ww1 deserters, whether or not it happened I can't remember and cba finding out, but I believe it is at least possible, even if the government refused to do so.
It seems many deserters have been pardoned in many countries.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4796579.stm
Although I don't know if that was a case of "well the law was dumb" or a case of "well we bent the meaning of the law a bit to make ourselves look good"