Today Is the Birthday of a Man to Whom We Owe an Unfathomable Debt . . .

Alan M. Turing

(June 23, 1912 — June 7, 1954)

British mathematician and logician, who made major contributions to mathematics, cryptanalysis, logic, philosophy, and biology and to the new areas later named computer science, cognitive science, artificial intelligence, and artificial life.

- Encyclopedia Britannica.

Alan Turing was a patriot, a hero, and a homosexual. 

 

Because of the latter, his achievements, which were instrumental in saving lives and revolutionizing the world in which we now live, were overlooked; he was prosecuted and convicted, chemically castrated, and died of cyanide poisoning. He was 41 years old.

I think it's accurate to say that this is a birthday without which the world would be a different and eminently poorer place. 

To understand why, please read on:

The Turing Archive for the History of Computing.

The Alan Turing Homepage.

BBC History: Alan Turing.

Computerworld: How Alan Turing set the rules for computing.

Book - Alan Turing: The Enigma.

Book - The Essential Turing: Seminal Writings in Computing, Logic, Philosophy, Artificial Intelligence, and Artificial Life plus The Secrets of Enigma.

Turing by the Numbers. 

Google's Turing Doodle, solution.

Other news on Alan Turing.

Photos:

Alan Turing

Turing memorial statue plaque in Sackville Park, Manchester

The Enigma machine

Princesses of Tomorrow Are in for a Big Surprise!

MY NEW HERO - HISSA HILAL

A Saudi woman received a death threat last week after she appeared on “Poet of Millions,” Abu Dhabi’s version of the game show “American Idol” — which features aspiring poets instead of singers — and recited a poem attacking clerics for “terrorizing people and preying on everyone seeking peace.”

 Hissa Hilal, “sparked controversy in Saudi Arabia . . .” “According to reports, many viewers praised her for her courage, but others attacked her for criticizing clerics and reciting her poems in public,” the newspaper wrote. “One website called for her death.”

A sample :

I have seen evil from the eyes of the subversive fatwas in a time when what is lawful is confused with what is not lawful;

When I unveil the truth, a monster appears from his hiding place; barbaric in thinking and action, angry and blind; wearing death as a dress and covering it with a belt [referring to suicide bombing];

He speaks from an official, powerful platform, terrorizing people and preying on everyone seeking peace; the voice of courage ran away and the truth is cornered and silent, when self-interest prevented one from speaking the truth.

(The photo is a screenshot of Hissa Hilal, on the game show “Poet of Millions,” performing on the set in Abu Dhabi.)