Alan Turing the legendary father of computer science, codebreaker, and tragic victim of sexual intolerance, is set to be pardoned by the British government 59 years after his suicide and prosecution for being gay.
Here’s a fantastic Radiolab segment on Alan Turing.
How much smarter would our tech be now if Turing had been celebrating his marriage at 41, instead of harassed into suicide as a gay man?
At Smithsonian’s Smart News, Rose Eveleth notes that pardoning Turing doesn’t make him less wronged, and doesn’t diminish the tragedy of persecuting this genius for being who he was. I like the idea she mentions: Teach Turing’s complete story in schools, and help eradicate bullying.
While we can’t take back the wrongs of the past, we can work to make sure they are never repeated. Especially in science.
4922 Notes/ Hide
- micro-services reblogged this from renlyslittlerose
- micro-services liked this
- slytherclawqueenofthefae reblogged this from funcoolmathgames
- count-anton-von-comrie reblogged this from funcoolmathgames
- count-anton-von-comrie liked this
- prime89 liked this
- slytherclawqueenofthefae liked this
- funcoolmathgames reblogged this from coolmathstuff
- goddamn-sunset liked this
- shutupeiffel liked this
- fightingfaerie reblogged this from chicago-poet
- screamrevolution reblogged this from to-the-barricade
- icedraspberrytea liked this
- chicago-poet reblogged this from the-muses-have-secrets
- the-muses-have-secrets reblogged this from apfelhalm
- the-muses-have-secrets liked this
- apfelhalm reblogged this from louphoenix
- louphoenix reblogged this from renlyslittlerose
- mcinematic reblogged this from itsokaytobesmart
- perceptionsoftheworld liked this
- thebethanyrose liked this
- moonage reblogged this from carudamon119
- cephetacean reblogged this from itsokaytobesmart
- percydoesthething reblogged this from lets-steal-an-archive
- sagebrushed liked this
- fumblingemotions reblogged this from pyrrhiccomedy
- horserenoir reblogged this from unbeknownstlove
- unbeknownstlove reblogged this from itsokaytobesmart
- night-dark-woods reblogged this from renlyslittlerose
- omniscientia reblogged this from dandeliondoodles-blog
- dan-atena liked this
- thebethanyrose reblogged this from twopartsvodka
- brokensky reblogged this from itsokaytobesmart
- brokensky liked this
- bisexualspace liked this
- mind-cathedrool reblogged this from itsokaytobesmart
- mind-cathedrool liked this
- nievesfernandez reblogged this from itsokaytobesmart
- rithius liked this
- itsokaytobesmart posted this
- Show more notes