Posted on 09/01/2009 6:56:26 AM PDT by OldSpice
Alan Turing, who is said to be the father of modern computer science, was a WWII code-breaker until he was prosecuted by the British government for having homosexual relations. Thousands have now signed a petition calling for a government apology.
Turing committed suicide two years after his prosecution in 1954, but was before given experimental chemical castration as a “treatment”. He is most well known for his NAZI enigma code breaking work for the British during the second World War and his helping establish a test to measure the intelligence of a machine which is now known as a Turing Test.
So far more than 5500 signatures have been collected on the Downing Street petition started by computer scientist John Graham-Cumming. Author Ian McEwan put his John Hancock on the petition. [BBC]
In fact, one of the first jobs I ever had was working on a “mechanical computer” of sorts, a mail sorting machine built in 1901, and still in use today sorts parcels and delivers them to a location through a means of stored information on a electro-mechanical memory board.
Again, show me what this guy invented ANY programing language that gave way to development of all computers in use today.
lol - some things never change.
And, indeed, there was a lot of evidence considered credible at that time. National governments were experimenting with and testing these things as well. No doubt, if he remained true to his scientific principles, he would be singing a different tune 50 years later. Have you ever said something that you might not believe with as much credulity 50 years later?
I vote for Charles Babbage.
He "originated the concept of a programmable computer" in the 1800's.
A "computer" is a platform for information processing. not the language it's processing.
“computer sciences” includes hardware, architecture, and software. He was the father of NONE of those.
He didn't just write a test, he was a pioneer in computational theory, especially the stored-program computer. He didn't just break individual codes, he created the theories and techniques that allowed complex codebreaking in general.
And buggery laws were and still are sound laws that should be prosecuted.
At the expense of the advancement of the country? I wonder how things would have been had Turning been outed in 1938, most likely leaving Enigma unbroken. Computers would surely be years behind where they are now. Talk about cutting off the nose to spite the face.
*shrug* People will make their own decisions about your ideas and your behavior. Most already have.
Why do people think Einstein was so great? He never built a nuclear power plant or atomic bomb. He just wrote papers with numbers and words on them?
Movie history...read The Code Book by Simon Singh - a great treatment of the history of cryptography that discusses the Enigma puzzle very well.
Heck, I remember in the late 60's in "computer class" we STILL used those stupid cards.
Good grief. Now I know what I'm dealing with. There was no "overwhelming" evidence for telepathy "at that time."
The crackpot also thought that computers could have ESP and he suggested that testing them for it would require putting the testers in a "telepathy-proof room" so that the computer couldn't read their minds and fake ESP.
Have you even read his nonsense?
You’ve got a point there Edweena. Michaelangelo also rarely finished his paintings or scultures.
Don’t forget his kick-a$% hair style.
“Again, show me what this guy invented ANY programing language that gave way to development of all computers in use today.”
Read the other responses to you on this topic, or better yet, actually go do some reasearch of your own. You are obviously absolutely ignorant in this field. The fact you think a programming language gives way to computers is in and of itself proof or your utter ignorance, I truly don’t even know where to begin with that one its so patently ignorant.
Trying to engage you into the fact that the very concept of the “turing machine” is the basis of modern algorithmic computing is way to far above your ability.
Maybe, but not the first. And definitely not the "father of computer sciences"
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.