Thousands call for Turing apology - BBC News - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2...
Aug 31, 2009
from
K.D.,
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Из сушёных грибов сиитакэ,
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I had no idea they forced him to get chemically castrated after he admitted he was gay. Disgusting. I hope the government officially apologizes for killing one of the great minds of that generation.
- Bret Taylor
More here. Includes link to the Downing St. petition: http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news...
- Richard Chen
Pretty bad for the "good guys" in WWII, eh? Doubly sad that it (apparently) caused him to commit suicide. So we lost one of the greatest minds in computer science in his early 40s.
- Joel Webber
What a sad story... I hope they do apologize. Here's a link to the petition, but you have to live in the UK to sign: http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/turing...
- Shannon Jiménez
If the British government doesn't apologize for murdering Turing, they will be no better than the Nazi enemy that threw homosexuals into the gas chambers alongside the Jews and Gypsies. Wasn't he supposed to be on *our* side? The *Law* didn't think so...
- Dennis Jernberg
We're still not very nice to gays. Apologizing for the past makes a statement. Correcting the present makes a difference in people's lives. I hope we do both.
- Andrew Warner
The man was an absolute genius, its a pity he could not live further to expand our horizons of thinking. His abstract computing device called "Turing Machine" is for computer scientists what speed of light is for physicists, an ultimate limit of computation
- thequark
They should apologize for throwing Oscar Wilde in the clink as well.
- Joel Webber
If we follow the line of reasoning where the current government must apologize for all previous governments then it eventually reaches the point of absurdity. Besides how meaningful is an apology on behalf of someone else?
- Adewale Oshineye
Ok, I was being a bit silly about Wilde (there are plenty of things the Victorians could apologize for). But Turing was abused by what could be argued to be the "current" government (or at least political system), and that we still think of as the "good guys" (for wont of a better term) in WWII. And it was only ~50 years ago.
- Joel Webber
ACM Statement Regarding British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's Apology on the Treatment of Alan Turing
ACM (09/11/09) Hall, Wendy
ACM applauds Prime Minister Brown's statement on the treatment of Alan Turing, writes Dame Professor Wendy Hall, ACM President. ACM has long celebrated the fundamental contributions of Alan M. Turing not only for his instrumental role in British code-breaking efforts that hastened the end of World War II, but for his insights to the mathematical underpinnings of computing and computer science, which continue to drive innovation and produce unimaginable advances in science and technology that have made the world a better place. As a consequence, the most prestigious award in computing and computer science, the A.M. Turing Award, was established by ACM in 1966, and named after Alan Turing. ACM looks forward to joining with other organizations to celebrate the centenary of Turing's birth in 2012.
- eugenio