Apology to Alan Turing
In the Eurostar back from London, I read a paper in Le Monde about Gordon Brown’s posthumous apology to Alan Turing for the way he was prosecuted by English courtsfor homosexuality in 1952 and eventually driven to suicide in 1954… I just find almost impossible to believe that, till 1967 in England (980 in Scotland and 1981 in France!), homosexuality was a crime, open to prosecution and, in the case of Turing, to chemical castration! This, in addition, ruined his running abilities which were close to Olympic level of those days (his best time in the marathon was 2:46:3). In conjunction with his breaking of the Enigma code machine during the war at Bletchley Park, Turing developped notions of Bayesian information theory like Banburismus and bans. To think of how much he could have contributed to computational and foundational Bayesian statistics, as well as artificial intelligence and mathematical biology, had not he been persecuted by a predjudiced society… The Prime Minister’s apology came as the result of a petition campaign started by John Graham-Cumming.
Xi'an's Og 
July 5, 2022 at 8:13 am
[…] in the heart of Australia, a 5 hours drive away from Alice Springs. And historical mentions: Alan Turing (page 10) and the team at Bletchley Park indeed used Bayes factors (and sequential analysis) in […]
February 11, 2015 at 2:50 pm
[…] Turing Institute. See Professor Robert’s earlier post on Turing, […]
January 3, 2012 at 12:27 pm
[…] I discovered that this is the Alan Turing Year in celebration of the 100th anniversary of Turing‘s birth. The math department at the University of Leeds has a webpage on all the events […]
September 19, 2011 at 12:11 am
[…] to the war (WWII), at least from the Allied side. Again, I knew most of the facts about Alan Turing and Bletchley Park’s Enigma, however the story is well-told and, as in previous occasions, I […]
September 16, 2011 at 8:10 am
[…] to the war (WWII), at least from the Allied side. Again, I knew most of the facts about Alan Turing and Bletchley Park, however the story is well-told and, as in previous occasions, I cannot but be […]
August 3, 2010 at 8:10 am
[…] on the life and influence of this leading figure. After his work in Bletchley Park along Alan Turing during the war, already using Bayes factors introduced a few years earlier by Harold Jeffreys, I.J. […]
February 21, 2010 at 10:46 pm
You exaggerate his running talents a bit, I think. Alain Mimoun won the 1956 Olympic marathon in 2.25 or so, so Turing was 20 minutes off that pace.
February 22, 2010 at 7:12 am
Well, being personally 20 minutes off the record time…on a half-marathon, I am very admirative of Turing’s second talent!
October 18, 2009 at 11:55 pm
Fortunately, he had the time to invent round-the-house chess: after each turn, the players have to run around the house, and the other one has to finish his move by the time the runner comes back, and start running himself. Strategic balance of cutting short the other player’s move and not getting exhausted.
I would now play against you, though !
The most recent offspring: chessboxing. Less strategic, though.