spare a thought
It's been a queer day all-round. This morning I left for Kew and the Royal Botanic Gardens not expecting to have such a good time or be immersed in Queer Nature. Now back in Paddington I'm padding about under Bishop's Bridge along the Paddington Basin towards Browning's Pool; just mooching about yet aware of the Alan Turing Memorial.
Almost a month ago, away on the isle of Guernsey, I had the great privilege of attending a talk by a passionate technician who had a long enough association with Bletchley Park to have first hand dialogue with people there during the Second World War. He, in my view, respectfully acknowledged the role of a group of Polish mathematicians with pre-war experience of early Enigma technology. I don't think he meant to diminish Alan Turing's role in the development of modern computing so it's important to say that he meant more to give credit to the mathematician's work on Enigma logic rather than criticise Turing's application of automation to cryptoanalysis.
Alan Turing was born quite near to here, in Maida Vale. In 1952 his homosexuality led to conviction for gross indecency under what was even then an archaic law. His probation condition included hormone injections with attendant consequnces. His death on 7 June 1954, seventy years ago this week and largely forgotten, was attributed to suicide. Ironically, among other celebrations, Turing's death has gone unremarked despite the estimates that the work at Bletchley shortened the war by two years and saved 14 milion lives.
Spare a thought for what might have been.
spare a thought
It's been a queer day all-round. This morning I left for Kew and the Royal Botanic Gardens not expecting to have such a good time or be immersed in Queer Nature. Now back in Paddington I'm padding about under Bishop's Bridge along the Paddington Basin towards Browning's Pool; just mooching about yet aware of the Alan Turing Memorial.
Almost a month ago, away on the isle of Guernsey, I had the great privilege of attending a talk by a passionate technician who had a long enough association with Bletchley Park to have first hand dialogue with people there during the Second World War. He, in my view, respectfully acknowledged the role of a group of Polish mathematicians with pre-war experience of early Enigma technology. I don't think he meant to diminish Alan Turing's role in the development of modern computing so it's important to say that he meant more to give credit to the mathematician's work on Enigma logic rather than criticise Turing's application of automation to cryptoanalysis.
Alan Turing was born quite near to here, in Maida Vale. In 1952 his homosexuality led to conviction for gross indecency under what was even then an archaic law. His probation condition included hormone injections with attendant consequnces. His death on 7 June 1954, seventy years ago this week and largely forgotten, was attributed to suicide. Ironically, among other celebrations, Turing's death has gone unremarked despite the estimates that the work at Bletchley shortened the war by two years and saved 14 milion lives.
Spare a thought for what might have been.