Finally, an apology
He stares into the clear beaker of poison until the memory of Chris has come and gone. He dips the apple into the brew and returns it to its place on the table. It will take only a few minutes. He doesn’t know if he should lie or fall. . .
When the time comes, as it seems to, flowing by until he is carried on its relentless current, he sits on the edge of the metal-framed bed, reaches for the apple, and breaks the pretty red skin with his teeth.
– from A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines, a novel by Janna Levin based on the lives of Alan Turing and Kurt Godel
British PM’s apology to codebreaker Alan Turing: we were inhumane.
in the Guardian, 11 Sept 09
Gordon Brown issued an unequivocal apology last night on behalf of the government to Alan Turing, the second world war codebreaker who took his own life 55 years ago after being sentenced to chemical castration for being gay.
Describing Turing’s treatment as “horrifying” and “utterly unfair”, Brown said the country owed the brilliant mathematician a huge debt. He was proud, he said, to offer an official apology. “We’re sorry, you deserved so much better,” Brown writes in a statement posted on the No 10 website.
Turing is most famous for his work in helping create the “bombe” that cracked messages enciphered with the German Enigma machines. He was convicted of gross indecency in 1952 after admitting a sexual relationship with a man.
He was given experimental chemical castration as a “treatment”. His criminal record meant he was unable to continue his work for the UK Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) because his security privileges were withdrawn. Two years later he killed himself, aged 41. . .
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September 13th, 2009 at 09:40
Wow! Took up computer science and Turing’s machine was one of the precursor of computers we’ve studied. Didn’t know those juice bits and those could have made class discussions livelier and more interesting. His was a truly great mind, beyond genius if you may. Anyway, it’s good the government who disgraced and killed him has now cleared his name
Which made me think, what if Elton John lived in that era?