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Alan Turing: A Life
From Beginning to End
(World War 2 Biographies),
by Hourly History.
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Very worth reading.
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"After the passing of his dear friend, Alan Turing did his best to carry on. By the end of 1930, he managed to secure a scholarship to start attending courses in math at the prestigious King’s College at Cambridge in the fall of 1931. It is said that through this generous scholarship and additional grant money received, Turing had all of his expenses taken care of. This was an envious position to be in for any student since many others were struggling to pay their tuition cost at the time."
It's unclear if that last bit is simply an off the hat comment by the author, since English top academic institutions weren't exactly pretending to take in indigent and brilliant of the world, or of UK, generally. Most students were aristocratic and those who were expected for whatever reason to spend time at college, whether capable or not of any academic excellence or even aptitude.
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"Alan Turing was a genius. He was in fact, one of the few clear-cut examples of true genius that history has bestowed upon us. He bestowed on the world several breakthroughs and discoveries which are relevant to this very day. In our modern world of artificial intelligence for example, when you wonder just how smart your smartphone is, you might feel inclined to give it the Turing test.
"Alan Turing’s fingerprints are everywhere, and yet his own country for quite some time failed to acknowledge it. It wasn’t until 2009 that the then prime minister of the United Kingdom, Gordon Brown, issued an official, posthumous apology to Alan Turing for “the appalling way he was treated.” To many, this was an admission that was far too long in coming.
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"Alan Turing is considered one of the fathers of artificial intelligence, and his theories on this matter range from purely mechanical to almost spiritual. As much as Turing was interested in the physicality of machinery, he was also interested in the finer things of the soul. In fact, Turing often thought of the afterlife and what might occur to the spirit once it left the body. He pondered if our physical forms are merely temporary vessels that our spirits inhabit. And while Turing never directly claimed to believe in reincarnation, he was rather fond of proclaiming that the spirit needs a body in order to react with the universe, and as soon as the spirit detaches from its host, it is bound to return to find another form to inhabit once again.
"Some say it was the early loss of his dear friend Chris Morcom that led Turing to think so deeply about such things. After all, he always did say that he felt Morcom in one form or another had continued to carry on their work from afar, giving him inspiration right when he needed it most. Many have had such flights of fancy while grieving the loss of loved ones, but Turing was the kind of person who wouldn’t merely speculate on such a scenario—he was the type that would try to prove it.
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"Armed with quantum mechanics and his own theory of the universal machine, Alan Turing was prepared to delve deep into the mysteries of life and what it means to be an intelligent human being —perhaps more than anyone else before him."
" ... Turing’s life was by no means easy; there were hardships, trials, and tribulations that would shake him to his core. But no matter how much anyone tried to dampen or darken his spirits, the spark ignited by Alan Turing’s short life was still something exceedingly brilliant to behold."
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"“Instead of trying to produce a programme to simulate the adult mind, why not rather try to produce one which simulates the child’s? If this were then subjected to an appropriate course of education one would obtain the adult brain.”
"—Alan Turing"
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"Alan Mathison Turing was born on June 23, 1912, on the affluent west side district of London called Maida Vale. Turing wasn’t exactly born with a silver spoon in his mouth, but his beginnings were rather extravagant all the same. His father, Julius Mathison Turing, who was in the employ of the Indian Civil Service, was actually on furlough when his wife Ethel Sara Turing gave birth to Alan. Punctual as ever, it appears that Alan Turing arrived just in time to accommodate his father’s time off. A happy and inquisitive child from the beginning, he was a welcome addition to the Turing family.
"Immediately after Alan’s birth, Julius requested and was granted an extension of his time off, allowing him not to report back until March of 1913. Mr. and Mrs. Turing took advantage of this extra time together, indulging themselves and their two children with a kind of family vacation. They packed their bags and headed to the Mediterranean where they exchanged the cold winter season of England for the luxury and warmth of Italy. After this time off came to a close, Julius was called back to India to finish his tour of duty. Ethel meanwhile would stay in Italy with Alan and his older brother John until September of 1913.
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"It was a great bonding experience while it lasted, but once their Italian retreat finally came to a close, Ethel took her children back with her to Britain. It wasn’t long before Alan’s mother would join Julius in India, leaving her children in the care of their close friends, a retired Army couple. It was Colonel Ward and his wife who would serve as surrogate parents for the boys in their early years. Such a thing might seem unusual today but was actually a common practice in those days in Britain, especially among more affluent families, who would leave their children in the care of others during their formative years. Although Alan would later express appreciation for the Wards, he was conflicted with the strict values and sensibilities that they espoused. The Wards were from a military background and issued to their charges their own brand of military discipline, which was something that young Alan Turing simply abhorred.
"When Alan was ten years old, attending Hazelhurst Preparatory School, his parents finally returned from India. Julius had managed to earn an early retirement, and he and Ethel took up residence in the north of France. This was done in part so that Mr. Turing could escape the more austere taxes that life in Britain would have exacted on his pensioner checks. At any rate, even though they hadn’t moved back to England proper, Alan’s parents were now certainly a lot closer to their children than they had been before.
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"In this new state of affairs, it was determined that Alan would stay with the Wards during his school days, but would cross the English Channel to visit with his mother and father for any holiday time that he was allotted. After one of these holidays at his parents’ home in France, 13-year-old Turing made the trip across the Channel just in time to attend his first day of class at the storied Sherborne School for boys in Dorset. He was noted as an industrious student early on, with many of his teachers giving him high marks. It was at Sherborne that Turing’s mathematical ability would first come to the forefront. However, it wasn’t always in a good way. In fact, even though his teachers acknowledged his ability in advanced mathematics, he was often criticized for shirking the basics and skipping elementary work. Turing was ready to move farther afield than his teachers would allow, and as a result they often found themselves exasperated with his lack of attention to detail when it came to the fundamentals.
"Besides this lack of detail in his math work, Turing also quickly became known for his lack of attention to his personal appearance. Sherborne was known as a strict, no-nonsense school. By the time of Alan Turing’s attendance, the respected school was completely prim and proper and came with an obligatory dress code. Black waistcoats, grey flannel suits, and black ties were all standard attire in those days. Turing soon butted his head against this strict structure by wearing his clothing as loose and casually as possible. For Turing, comfort always trumped being refined any day—so much so that sometimes he could even be seen around campus with his pajamas on under his suit. Some deem that Alan Turing was a hipster before the term even existed. Whatever the case may be, he was certainly one to make an interesting first impression."
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"It was his math teacher at Sherborne, a man known by his students as Mr. Randolph, who is said to have first discovered the depths of Alan Turing’s talents. This realization came after Turing presented to him a rather impressive algebraic exposition that he had completed. Initially, Randolph was suspicious that Turing had copied the work from a textbook, but after realizing this was impossible, Randolph had no choice but to declare Turing to be a mathematical genius.
"By the time Turing was about 15 years of age, he was a definitive prodigy, able to comprehend and decipher the theorems of Isaac Newton and even Albert Einstein. It was Einstein that excited the young Turing the most since he viewed his breakthrough theories as overthrowing what had hitherto been the unquestioned bedrock of Newtonian mathematics and science. Turing was riding on a literal revolution of thought.
"Alan Turing wielded an uncanny mind, but with it came an immense sense of isolation. Like many child prodigies, he often felt alone and as if there was no one else with whom he could effectively relate. Up to this point in his young life, Turing had been more or less anti-social and focused primarily on his studies. However, that would soon change. For it was right around this time that Alan Turing met the person who would become his best friend and, some would say, the love of his life.
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"His name was Christopher Morcom. He and Turing met as fellow classmates in September of 1928. Morcom was one year older than Turing, and Turing at first looked to him as a kind of relished mentor. He idealized his academic talents as well as his good looks, becoming infatuated with the stylish and well-kempt, blond-haired Morcom. Christopher Morcom also shared with Turing a love for science and mathematics, a fact that often set them both apart from their more classical based teachers and classmates.
"With both of them often feeling at odds with the establishment at Sherborne, there was more than enough fertile ground for Alan Turing and Christopher Morcom to come together as kindred spirits. They had a lot of commonalities in thought, but Morcom also drove Turing to action. Morcom inspired Turing with his hands-on approach to science, in which he often engaged in science projects that intrigued his peers with the directness and immediacy of their impact—a fact that was captured in fellow student Victor Brookes’ letter home to his mother. As his letter excitedly recounted, “He bought numbers of balloons, which he filled with gas and named after his favourite goats! These would be fitted with a fuse of waxed string, lighted and despatched over the girls-school, often, I fear, complete with messages from the Upper Studies! The excitement was terrific when they exploded high in the air.”
"Even though Turing and Morcom were sometimes at odds with their peers, every so often their antics would catch on like wildfire. As Brookes’ letter indicates, their classmates were, of course, always ready to admire any efforts to disrupt the nearby girls’ school. The letter also indicates and makes reference to the eccentricity of Morcom’s mother—an eccentricity that young Morcom always vigorously defended. She apparently raised goats in a part of town in which such a thing would be scoffed at if not openly derided. This was long before the days of the urban farmer, and a city dweller with goats was bound to be the target of many jokes. But Morcom dearly loved his mother and used his charm to smooth over any of her eccentricities. It could be said that he served in the same capacity for Alan Turing as well."
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" ... Morcom was also emaciated and weak from a form of tuberculosis which he had contracted several years earlier. The tuberculosis had apparently stemmed from an infected dose of cow’s milk that Morcom had ingested as a boy. It was, in fact, partially for this reason that his mother kept goats since it was deemed that goat’s milk would be much safer for Christopher to drink than milk of the bovine variety. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to stave off the illness that had been ravaging Morcom’s body, and on February 11, 1930, he passed away.
"Turing was deeply shaken by the loss of his close friend and confidant and expressed his sorrow to Morcom’s mother. He wrote a letter to her that read in part, “I am sure I could not have found anywhere another companion so brilliant and yet so charming and unconceited. I regarded my interest in my work, and in such things as astronomy (to which he introduced me) as something to be shared with him and I think he felt a little the same about me. . . . I know I must put as much energy if not as much interest into my work as if he were alive, because that is what he would like me to do.”"
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"“It seems probable that once the machine thinking method had started, it would not take long to outstrip our feeble powers. They would be able to converse with each other to sharpen their wits. At some stage therefore, we should have to expect the machines to take control.”
"—Alan Turing"
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"After the passing of his dear friend, Alan Turing did his best to carry on. By the end of 1930, he managed to secure a scholarship to start attending courses in math at the prestigious King’s College at Cambridge in the fall of 1931. It is said that through this generous scholarship and additional grant money received, Turing had all of his expenses taken care of. This was an envious position to be in for any student since many others were struggling to pay their tuition cost at the time."
It's unclear if that last bit is simply an off the hat comment by the author, since English top academic institutions weren't exactly pretending to take in indigent and brilliant of the world, or of UK, generally. Most students were aristocratic and those who were expected for whatever reason to spend time at college, whether capable or not of any academic excellence or even aptitude.
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"Besides science, math, and manning a rowboat, another aspect of college life also caught Turing’s eye during this period: politics. During his first few years at King’s College, Adolf Hitler rose to power in Germany. The Nazis were on the march, as were their international partners in fascism—Franco’s Spain, Mussolini’s Italy, and Tojo’s Japan. Many college students at the time, disgusted and alarmed at the rise of far-right fascism, naturally began to turn to what seemed to be its antithesis: Soviet communism. However, most young people of the time were ill-informed when it came to just how brutal the totalitarian dictatorship of communist Russia was. Alan Turing himself displayed such naivety when he wrote home in 1933 to declare, “I am thinking of going to Russia some time in vacation. I have joined an organization called the Anti-War Council. Politically it is rather communist.” However, Turing seems to have quickly forgotten all about the organization shortly after mentioning it. Indeed, he was so consumed with his studies that any real political leaning was an arbitrary afterthought at best."
Author shows bias there, openly - by mentioning brutality in Russia but not in US, where it was documented by authors such as Upton Sinclair.
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"Turing ultimately graduated from King’s College with distinction in 1934 and was granted a place as an official Fellow of the institution in 1935, at just 22 years of age. The major reason for him gaining this position was a paper Turing had written on the so-called central limit theorem. In his dissertation, Turing had proved the central limit theorem; the only trouble was, Turing was not the one who first came to this conclusion. Turing and the academics who critiqued his paper were apparently ignorant to the fact that a mathematician from Finland, Jarl Waldemar Lindberg, had stated much the same thing back in 1922.
"Nevertheless, the genius of Alan Turing could hardly be denied. He would soon get the chance to prove himself again with a paper submitted in 1936 entitled “On Computable Numbers, with an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem.” In this paper, Turing demonstrated that some decision problems are undecidable, meaning it is impossible to construct a single algorithm that will give the correct yes-or-no answer every time. The paper also introduced the idea of automatic machines (later called Turing machines), which can be described as a rudimentary form of computer programming. The Turing machines are able to read and write data on a strip of tape according to a table of rules. It was a simple approach, but with far-reaching applications. The Turing machine turned out to be a model for computation; it defines computing, computation, and what is computable. In his paper, Turing also described universal machines (later known as universal Turing machines) that could perform the tasks of any other computation machine—a notion which would inspire the development of the stored-program computer in the late 1940s.
"The theorems Turing produced in this paper, including his automatic and universal machines, are still studied today in theoretical computer science and mathematics. His efforts in this field are still very much valid."
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"“No, I’m not interested in developing a powerful brain. All I’m after is just a mediocre brain, something like the President of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company.”
"—Alan Turing"
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"Right on the heels of his academic breakthrough paper “On Computable Numbers,” Alan Turing joined a team of researchers in the United States at Princeton University to work on complicated logic theorems and advanced algebraic concepts. He set sail from the docks of Southampton, England, for the shores of the United States in September of 1936.
"Eccentric until the end, during his voyage, Turing made sure he brought his sextant with him for the trip. He had picked up the piece from a used store before he left Britain, and like some ancient mariner he was determined to make use of it as he crossed the ocean waters for America. One can only imagine how strange Turing may have looked to his fellow passengers as he took his measurements, but there was no love lost between Turing and his fellow boarders all the same. The ship housed some 5,000 passengers, and Turing quickly found the conditions on board the vessel most disagreeable. In one letter he wrote during the trip, he described the other passengers as nothing more than riff-raff which are best to be ignored.
"His ire was especially irked by the Americans he bumped elbows with, whom he termed “the most insufferable and insensitive creatures.” This was no doubt the first time that Turing had ever even been around Americans, so he was sure to add the wistful refrain that perhaps these particular samples of Americans were mere aberrations, writing, “One of them has just been talking to me and telling me of the worst aspects of America with evident pride. However, they may not all be like that.”
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"Turing would indeed get to know Americans quite well during his stay abroad, and by 1938, he would go on to earn his Ph.D. in mathematics from Princeton, before returning to British soil later that year. Turing was 26 years old and had come quite a long way since his days at Sherborne School. Now a recognized leader in his field, his unique talents started to attract attention from the British government. As Great Britain and its allies prepared to face off against Nazi Germany, they were in need of people who could help them decipher Germany’s encrypted lines of communication. With his background in cracking complex algorithms, Alan Turing was a natural choice for an expert in cryptology. In particular, he was put to work to figure out how to decode the Nazis’ famous Enigma machine."
"Turing’s efforts in breaking the Enigma codes would prove invaluable to the Allied war effort, saving countless lives due to the vital intelligence that was provided. The Battle of the Atlantic, in particular, provided the most dramatic example of just how important Turing’s code-breaking was."
"During his time as a cryptanalyst in this high-pressure environment, Turing struck up a close friendship with a fellow colleague. Her name was Joan Clarke, the only female member of the team and a true cryptographic pioneer in her own right. Turing and Clarke found themselves becoming more and more entwined as they spent day after day together, working frantically to crack German codes. Soon enough, they began to see each other outside of work as well. Although Turing still had strong feelings toward men, in his appreciation of Clarke, he started to see her as a potential partner and wife.
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"By 1941, he made up his mind to propose to her. According to Clarke, he was customarily direct and to the point when he asked her, “Would you consider marrying me?” Joan Clark was a bit surprised but later recalled that she didn’t hesitate to tell him “yes.” Upon receiving her assent, Turing knelt down and gave Joan a loving kiss. But despite this romantic gesture, from the beginning their relationship seemed to be on rocky footing. In a matter of months, the engagement was called off. After admitting to Clarke that he was homosexual, Turing felt that the marriage was doomed to fail and decided it was for the best to simply end the matter altogether. Despite their broken engagement, Turing and Clarke would remain friends and continued to work together.
"In 1942, Turing’s success as a cryptanalyst resulted in him being summoned to cross the Atlantic, paying a visit to the United States in November. He was summoned to America in order to assist the U.S. Navy’s cryptographers who had been busy cracking naval Enigma codes as well. Upon his return to the United Kingdom in March of 1943, Turing then set up shop where he had done the majority of his code breaking, in the top-secret wartime facility of Bletchley Park. It was at Bletchley Park that Turing’s team deciphered an astonishing 84,000 German codes per month. Bletchley was also where Alan Turing began to set about the realization of his dreams, the creation of an actual physical machine that could do the abstract calculations of his theoretical Turing machines in real time. In other words, Turing was determined to construct his first fully functioning and fully programmable computer."
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"“Of course, machines can’t think as people do. A machine is different from a person. Hence, they think differently. The interesting question is, just because something thinks differently from you, does that mean it’s not thinking? Well, we allow for humans to have such divergences from one another. You like strawberries, I hate ice-skating, you cry at sad films, I am allergic to pollen. What is the point of—different tastes—different preferences? If not, to say that our brains work differently, that we think differently? And if we can say that about one another, then why can’t we say the same thing for brains built of copper, wire, and steel?”
"—Alan Turing"
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"It was on February 19, 1946 that Alan Turing ushered in a new phase in computer science by presenting to Britain’s National Physical Laboratory the first detailed design of a stored-program computer. ... The first prototype of ACE was up and running by 1950, but the full scope of Alan Turing’s design would not see the light of day until after his passing.
"The work was promising, but due to several procedural delays Turing became increasingly weary of the project and ultimately left at the end of 1947 in order to take a sabbatical at Cambridge. Here he burrowed his head in research that would culminate in a ground-breaking paper entitled “Intelligent Machinery.”
"In 1950, Turing reached another milestone in his research by presenting what has become known as the Turing test. Computer scientists had long wondered if there ever came a time in which intelligent machinery could become so advanced that you would not be able to tell that it was a machine. These scientific philosophers were essentially speculating about what today’s world refers to as artificial intelligence (AI). According to the litmus test that Alan Turing devised, we would know that a machine had crossed this threshold if it had gotten to the point that a human interrogator would not be able to reasonably tell through conversation the difference between that said piece of artificial intelligence and a real-life person.
" ... As the world moves ever closer to the day that computing machines reach true artificially intelligent capabilities, Turing’s efforts made over half a century ago still stand the test of time."
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"“I’m afraid that the following syllogism may be used by some in the future: ‘Turing believes machines think. Turing lies with men. Therefore machines do not think.’”
"—Alan Turing"
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"In 1951, shortly after Alan Turing turned 39 years old, he began to involve himself in a field of science called mathematical biology. It was in this field that he eventually wrote his masterful treatise on “The Chemical Basis of Morphogenesis.” This seminal work focused on the morphogenesis, or specific patterns created in nature seemingly at random. His primary pursuit in this research was to find an answer to the question of Fibonacci phyllotaxis, the phenomenon of number sequences existing within the structures of plants. The theory that Turing developed was that it was due to a reaction-diffusion system dispersing chemical compounds that accounted for the manifestation of this unique form of morphogenesis.
"Turing sought to discover the underlying mechanisms behind the splendid geometry of daisies, the intricate designs of a leopard’s spots, and even the complex structure of the human brain. In these efforts, Turing used the basic computing power he had on hand at the time in an attempt to reproduce the complex calculations involved in these occurrences observed in nature.
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" ... Alan Turing’s house was broken into and burglarized."
"Shortly after this, law enforcement returned to the scene, and after subjecting Turing to a rigorous battery of questions they discovered the romantic affair that Turing was having with Murray. In 1950s Britain, such unions were against the law, and the mere admission of which subjected Alan Turing to being vulnerable to arrest. Turing was ultimately accused of committing gross indecency for his liaisons with Arnold Murray. Turing was then promptly sent to trial where, after a rather lackluster defense, he was found guilty on March 31, 1952."
"Turing initially attempted to put a brave face, stating, “No doubt I shall emerge from it all a different man, but quite who I’ve not found out.” Sadly, he would indeed be irreversibly changed by the harsh treatment his country had put him through. Turing had been experimenting with the mathematics behind biology but was interrupted by his government, which sought to subject him to its own experimentation of the cruelest kind."
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"“Being on probation my shining virtue was terrific, and had to be. If I had so much as parked my bicycle on the wrong side of the road there might have been 12 years for me.”
"—Alan Turing"
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"Besides the physical side effects of the chemical injections he was forced to undergo, Alan Turing had become officially blacklisted careerwise. Ironically enough, even though Alan Turing was instrumental in the success of Britain’s top-secret code-breaking efforts against the Germans, he found himself with all of his security clearances suddenly revoked. This rendered him unable to continue as a cryptologist, even though he was the undisputed leader in the field.
"As an immediate consequence, even though his passport was never denied him, he would face certain travel restrictions. The United States, for example, would not allow Turing to enter the country any longer. As a result, in the last years of his life, Turing was only able to visit countries on the European continent, which still proved friendly to the spurned mathematician. Part of the reasoning that countries such as the United States used for such drastic measures against Turing was that in the depths of Cold War hysteria there were fears that a homosexual scientist could be easily compromised into giving up secrets to Russian spies. It seems that although Cold War warriors could look the other way when it came to heterosexual men being possibly compromised by female Russian spies, they were exceedingly worried about gay men being led astray by liaisons with gay Soviets. This was the sad state of affairs that existed in the mid-twentieth century, and the hand that Alan Turing had been dealt.
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"In addition to having his personal life mercilessly destroyed, Turing’s ground-breaking work that he had painstakingly put in for the British government was of little comfort to him. With his achievements labeled as top secret, Turing was ordered never to even mention his prior achievements. Citing the Official Secrets Act—a British ruling to put a gag order on anything deemed to be state secrets—much of Turing’s work would not see the light of day until the 1970s. It is largely due to this act that the world is just now beginning to realize how important Alan Turing’s work was—not only to the wartime effort, but also for the development of the computer and further concepts of artificial intelligence.
"In the end, the only thing that wasn’t denied Alan Turing was his academic position, but even that was marred by the way his reputation had been tarnished. Unfortunately, things would never be quite the same for Alan Turing again. Nevertheless, he soldiered on as best he could, exacting much needed emotional support from his close circle of friends during this difficult time.
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"One good friend of his during this period was a man by the name of Alan Garner. Turing had met Garner in 1951 when Garner was just 17 years old. Garner was a student at the Manchester Grammar School at the time, and he was also an avid runner—a passion that Turing himself held for most of his life. The two met on the track, struck up a conversation, and thereafter became running partners. They got along well enough, and they found that they had a lot in common besides running. They both enjoyed discussing the latest in scientific research, and they both shared a very quirky sense of humor. During the course of their conversations, they also discovered that they both had a long-standing fascination with the Walt Disney movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.
"The film had debuted as the first color, feature-length cartoon in 1937, and Alan Turing had been enthralled by it since the first time he laid eyes on it. For him, it was more than just a well-conveyed children’s tale. Turing believed Disney’s creation was absolute genius, even though most around him could not quite understand his obsession. For many, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves was just an entertaining film, but for Turing, seeing Snow White was a life-changing experience that spoke to the inner core of his being.
"The film had made a significant impact on Alan Garner as well. He recalled being just five years old when the film came out and being terrified by the scene in which Snow White is given the poisoned apple. Alan Turing, however, countered that the apple was not meant to be frightening but rather a larger metaphor for life. He then launched into a long-winded dialogue about the “ambiguity of the apple, red on one side, green on the other” and how one side gave life, while the other gave certain death. The Disney film had struck such a deep chord in Alan Turing’s subconscious mind that it had apparently sparked his own speculative philosophy on the nature of life and death.
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"Sadly, not long after this profound exchange, Alan Garner would be contacted by the police and ordered to cease all contact with Alan Turing. The authorities had apparently been watching Turing’s contacts rather closely since his arrest and were worried that this friendship would turn into something more. Garner would later contend that when this imposition was placed upon him by the police in 1952, he hadn’t even heard of what had happened to Turing. The teenager found himself enraged by the fact that the police insinuated that he was potentially being profiled by a predator and insisted that Alan Turing was nothing of the kind. Nevertheless, Garner would not see Turing again until 1953, shortly before his death.
"Their crossing paths was a simple, random coincidence, as they both boarded the same bus. Garner was with his girlfriend at the time and, feeling painfully awkward in the situation, he chose to act as if he didn’t realize Turing was on board. Garner, who later became a celebrated author, wouldn’t retell the story of this painful last encounter until many years later. But this one momentary snub that he felt compelled to execute would stick with him for the rest of his life."
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"Compounding Turing’s increasing anxiety was the constant monitoring that the police subjected him to. Even though he was doing everything within his power to comply with their demands, their dogged pursuit of his every activity was severely grating on his nerves. This constant surveillance seems to have surfaced in 1953 when a friend of Turing’s named Kjell, who happened to be gay, proposed to leave his native Norway to pay the mathematician a visit. Even though nothing physical had ever occurred between the two men, the police, who had apparently been reading Turing’s correspondence, pounced upon Kjell’s intention to visit and blocked him from ever arriving in Britain. Such instances were not only deeply distressing to Turing, but also embarrassing."
" ... It was on June 8, 1954 that Alan Turing was found dead ... "
"Alan Turing had died at some time during the previous night, on June 7, from what his autopsy would determine to be a case of cyanide poisoning. For the most part, his room seemed to be in normal condition; it was a bit untidy, but there was no sign of struggle or duress. Yet there was one aspect of the scene, held as insignificant except for those who knew him best, which required further scrutiny. Laying by the side of the deceased Alan Turing was an apple that appeared to have just been bitten into."
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"“I don’t think I really do know much about jobs, except the one I had during the war.”
"—Alan Turing"
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"It has long been assumed that Alan Turing committed suicide, but the circumstances in which Turing was found opened the door to the possibility that his death may have been an accident after all. It just so happens that Turing’s latest project right before his demise was one of electroplating gold onto spoons. To make the gold malleable enough for the process to work, potassium cyanide is used. Some have theorized that Turing either inhaled cyanide fumes from the apparatus he used, or that perhaps he accidentally contaminated the apple and ingested the lethal dose of cyanide in this fashion. It has also been pointed out that it was not unusual at all to find a half-consumed apple in Turing’s bedroom. It was actually a regular routine of his to eat an apple before falling asleep, and he often left the remnants of his night-time snack on his nightstand.
"In this sense, there was no reason to assume that the apple found on the day of his death was any more remarkable than any other apple his housekeeper may have found lying around on the days before his demise. It is only for those that infer that Alan Turing took his life that this particular apple would have meaning and significance. The easiest way to determine whether the discarded apple played any role at all would have been to have had it tested as forensic evidence. But alas, those investigating the scene of his death did not take care to do so; the apple was quickly discarded and forgotten.
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"One of the most steadfast proponents of the theory that Turing’s death was accidental was his mother. However, as his friends often pointed out, Turing would never have wanted to add to his mother’s heartbreak by having her come to the conclusion that he had committed suicide. They asserted that it was probably for this reason that Turing allowed for the plausible deniability of the act by having an apparatus that used cyanide near him at the time he chose to end his life. According to some, this was a smokescreen he used to shield his mother and other family members from further emotional trauma."
" ... posthumous groundswell of support that Alan Turing received came to a tipping point in the summer of 2009 when tech guru John Graham-Cumming successfully petitioned the British government to make amends for the ill-treatment that Alan Turing had received. The response was overwhelming—in all, over 30,000 petitioners had signed on to the request for a formal apology to be issued to Alan Turing. This prompted Prime Minister Gordon Brown to issue a statement on September 10, 2009, in which he did in indeed issue a formal apology. Although Gordon Brown was only a toddler when Alan Turing had died, as the current representative of the British powers that be, many felt it important to finally issue this acknowledgment of the prosecution of Alan Turing.
................................................................................................
"As Brown proclaimed, “Thousands of people have come together to demand justice for Alan Turing and recognition of the appalling way he was treated. While Turing was dealt with under the law of the time and we can’t put the clock back, his treatment was of course utterly unfair and I am pleased to have the chance to say how deeply sorry I and we all are for what happened to him. ... "
"Prime Minister Gordon Brown then went on to state, “This recognition of Alan’s status as one of Britain’s most famous victims of homophobia is another step towards equality, and long overdue. But even more than that, Alan deserves recognition for his contribution to humankind.” Gordon finalized his posthumous apology to Turing with the words, “On behalf of the British government, and all those who live freely thanks to Alan’s work I am very proud to say: we’re sorry, you deserved so much better.”
"This official apology given by Gordon Brown was then followed by an official pardon that was given by none other than the queen of the United Kingdom, Elizabeth II, in 2014. The British government also made it clear that they intended to extend their pardon to other men who had suffered the same persecution as Turing. ... "
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................................................................................................
"Alan Turing’s life was one full of imagination and progress—just about every breath he took was merely a pause between ideas. The modern world owes so much to his brilliant mind that it could hardly be overstated. Besides Turing’s major contributions to computing and his theories on artificial intelligence, it could be said that the free world owes its very freedom to the efforts of Alan Turing.
"With his work being classified and hidden away until the 1970s by the British government, it has only recently come to light how pivotal a role Alan Turing played in the Allied war effort during World War II. Without the uniquely gifted mind of Alan Turing, it remains doubtful that the encrypted messages created by the German Enigma machine would ever have been cracked."
" ... It was none other than another great mathematical mind, the brilliant John von Neumann, who often speculated just how much further Turing’s delving into the intricacies of math and computations might have led him if he was not interrupted by the war and by being tasked with cracking the codes of the Enigma machine. Von Neumann believed that the genius of Turing left uninhibited could do much more than crack the coded messages of Nazis—perhaps he could have cracked the very mysteries of the universe itself."
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Table of Contents
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Introduction
Childhood and Adolescence
The Death of His First Love
Turing Machines
Breaking the Nazis’ Enigma Codes
Taking the Turing Test
Conviction and Chemical Castration
Life Made Unbearable
The Poison Apple
The Long-Awaited Apology
Conclusion
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REVIEW
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Introduction
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Chapter 8. The Poison Apple
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Chapter 9. The Long-Awaited Apology
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"Alan Turing was a genius. He was in fact, one of the few clear-cut examples of true genius that history has bestowed upon us. He bestowed on the world several breakthroughs and discoveries which are relevant to this very day. In our modern world of artificial intelligence for example, when you wonder just how smart your smartphone is, you might feel inclined to give it the Turing test.
"Alan Turing’s fingerprints are everywhere, and yet his own country for quite some time failed to acknowledge it. It wasn’t until 2009 that the then prime minister of the United Kingdom, Gordon Brown, issued an official, posthumous apology to Alan Turing for “the appalling way he was treated.” To many, this was an admission that was far too long in coming.
................................................................................................
"Alan Turing is considered one of the fathers of artificial intelligence, and his theories on this matter range from purely mechanical to almost spiritual. As much as Turing was interested in the physicality of machinery, he was also interested in the finer things of the soul. In fact, Turing often thought of the afterlife and what might occur to the spirit once it left the body. He pondered if our physical forms are merely temporary vessels that our spirits inhabit. And while Turing never directly claimed to believe in reincarnation, he was rather fond of proclaiming that the spirit needs a body in order to react with the universe, and as soon as the spirit detaches from its host, it is bound to return to find another form to inhabit once again.
"Some say it was the early loss of his dear friend Chris Morcom that led Turing to think so deeply about such things. After all, he always did say that he felt Morcom in one form or another had continued to carry on their work from afar, giving him inspiration right when he needed it most. Many have had such flights of fancy while grieving the loss of loved ones, but Turing was the kind of person who wouldn’t merely speculate on such a scenario—he was the type that would try to prove it.
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"Armed with quantum mechanics and his own theory of the universal machine, Alan Turing was prepared to delve deep into the mysteries of life and what it means to be an intelligent human being —perhaps more than anyone else before him."
" ... Turing’s life was by no means easy; there were hardships, trials, and tribulations that would shake him to his core. But no matter how much anyone tried to dampen or darken his spirits, the spark ignited by Alan Turing’s short life was still something exceedingly brilliant to behold."
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November 02, 2022 - November 02, 2022.
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Chapter 1. Childhood and Adolescence
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"“Instead of trying to produce a programme to simulate the adult mind, why not rather try to produce one which simulates the child’s? If this were then subjected to an appropriate course of education one would obtain the adult brain.”
"—Alan Turing"
................................................................................................
"Alan Mathison Turing was born on June 23, 1912, on the affluent west side district of London called Maida Vale. Turing wasn’t exactly born with a silver spoon in his mouth, but his beginnings were rather extravagant all the same. His father, Julius Mathison Turing, who was in the employ of the Indian Civil Service, was actually on furlough when his wife Ethel Sara Turing gave birth to Alan. Punctual as ever, it appears that Alan Turing arrived just in time to accommodate his father’s time off. A happy and inquisitive child from the beginning, he was a welcome addition to the Turing family.
"Immediately after Alan’s birth, Julius requested and was granted an extension of his time off, allowing him not to report back until March of 1913. Mr. and Mrs. Turing took advantage of this extra time together, indulging themselves and their two children with a kind of family vacation. They packed their bags and headed to the Mediterranean where they exchanged the cold winter season of England for the luxury and warmth of Italy. After this time off came to a close, Julius was called back to India to finish his tour of duty. Ethel meanwhile would stay in Italy with Alan and his older brother John until September of 1913.
................................................................................................
"It was a great bonding experience while it lasted, but once their Italian retreat finally came to a close, Ethel took her children back with her to Britain. It wasn’t long before Alan’s mother would join Julius in India, leaving her children in the care of their close friends, a retired Army couple. It was Colonel Ward and his wife who would serve as surrogate parents for the boys in their early years. Such a thing might seem unusual today but was actually a common practice in those days in Britain, especially among more affluent families, who would leave their children in the care of others during their formative years. Although Alan would later express appreciation for the Wards, he was conflicted with the strict values and sensibilities that they espoused. The Wards were from a military background and issued to their charges their own brand of military discipline, which was something that young Alan Turing simply abhorred.
"When Alan was ten years old, attending Hazelhurst Preparatory School, his parents finally returned from India. Julius had managed to earn an early retirement, and he and Ethel took up residence in the north of France. This was done in part so that Mr. Turing could escape the more austere taxes that life in Britain would have exacted on his pensioner checks. At any rate, even though they hadn’t moved back to England proper, Alan’s parents were now certainly a lot closer to their children than they had been before.
................................................................................................
"In this new state of affairs, it was determined that Alan would stay with the Wards during his school days, but would cross the English Channel to visit with his mother and father for any holiday time that he was allotted. After one of these holidays at his parents’ home in France, 13-year-old Turing made the trip across the Channel just in time to attend his first day of class at the storied Sherborne School for boys in Dorset. He was noted as an industrious student early on, with many of his teachers giving him high marks. It was at Sherborne that Turing’s mathematical ability would first come to the forefront. However, it wasn’t always in a good way. In fact, even though his teachers acknowledged his ability in advanced mathematics, he was often criticized for shirking the basics and skipping elementary work. Turing was ready to move farther afield than his teachers would allow, and as a result they often found themselves exasperated with his lack of attention to detail when it came to the fundamentals.
"Besides this lack of detail in his math work, Turing also quickly became known for his lack of attention to his personal appearance. Sherborne was known as a strict, no-nonsense school. By the time of Alan Turing’s attendance, the respected school was completely prim and proper and came with an obligatory dress code. Black waistcoats, grey flannel suits, and black ties were all standard attire in those days. Turing soon butted his head against this strict structure by wearing his clothing as loose and casually as possible. For Turing, comfort always trumped being refined any day—so much so that sometimes he could even be seen around campus with his pajamas on under his suit. Some deem that Alan Turing was a hipster before the term even existed. Whatever the case may be, he was certainly one to make an interesting first impression."
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November 02, 2022 - November 02, 2022.
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Chapter 2. The Death of His First Love
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"It was his math teacher at Sherborne, a man known by his students as Mr. Randolph, who is said to have first discovered the depths of Alan Turing’s talents. This realization came after Turing presented to him a rather impressive algebraic exposition that he had completed. Initially, Randolph was suspicious that Turing had copied the work from a textbook, but after realizing this was impossible, Randolph had no choice but to declare Turing to be a mathematical genius.
"By the time Turing was about 15 years of age, he was a definitive prodigy, able to comprehend and decipher the theorems of Isaac Newton and even Albert Einstein. It was Einstein that excited the young Turing the most since he viewed his breakthrough theories as overthrowing what had hitherto been the unquestioned bedrock of Newtonian mathematics and science. Turing was riding on a literal revolution of thought.
"Alan Turing wielded an uncanny mind, but with it came an immense sense of isolation. Like many child prodigies, he often felt alone and as if there was no one else with whom he could effectively relate. Up to this point in his young life, Turing had been more or less anti-social and focused primarily on his studies. However, that would soon change. For it was right around this time that Alan Turing met the person who would become his best friend and, some would say, the love of his life.
................................................................................................
"His name was Christopher Morcom. He and Turing met as fellow classmates in September of 1928. Morcom was one year older than Turing, and Turing at first looked to him as a kind of relished mentor. He idealized his academic talents as well as his good looks, becoming infatuated with the stylish and well-kempt, blond-haired Morcom. Christopher Morcom also shared with Turing a love for science and mathematics, a fact that often set them both apart from their more classical based teachers and classmates.
"With both of them often feeling at odds with the establishment at Sherborne, there was more than enough fertile ground for Alan Turing and Christopher Morcom to come together as kindred spirits. They had a lot of commonalities in thought, but Morcom also drove Turing to action. Morcom inspired Turing with his hands-on approach to science, in which he often engaged in science projects that intrigued his peers with the directness and immediacy of their impact—a fact that was captured in fellow student Victor Brookes’ letter home to his mother. As his letter excitedly recounted, “He bought numbers of balloons, which he filled with gas and named after his favourite goats! These would be fitted with a fuse of waxed string, lighted and despatched over the girls-school, often, I fear, complete with messages from the Upper Studies! The excitement was terrific when they exploded high in the air.”
"Even though Turing and Morcom were sometimes at odds with their peers, every so often their antics would catch on like wildfire. As Brookes’ letter indicates, their classmates were, of course, always ready to admire any efforts to disrupt the nearby girls’ school. The letter also indicates and makes reference to the eccentricity of Morcom’s mother—an eccentricity that young Morcom always vigorously defended. She apparently raised goats in a part of town in which such a thing would be scoffed at if not openly derided. This was long before the days of the urban farmer, and a city dweller with goats was bound to be the target of many jokes. But Morcom dearly loved his mother and used his charm to smooth over any of her eccentricities. It could be said that he served in the same capacity for Alan Turing as well."
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" ... Morcom was also emaciated and weak from a form of tuberculosis which he had contracted several years earlier. The tuberculosis had apparently stemmed from an infected dose of cow’s milk that Morcom had ingested as a boy. It was, in fact, partially for this reason that his mother kept goats since it was deemed that goat’s milk would be much safer for Christopher to drink than milk of the bovine variety. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to stave off the illness that had been ravaging Morcom’s body, and on February 11, 1930, he passed away.
"Turing was deeply shaken by the loss of his close friend and confidant and expressed his sorrow to Morcom’s mother. He wrote a letter to her that read in part, “I am sure I could not have found anywhere another companion so brilliant and yet so charming and unconceited. I regarded my interest in my work, and in such things as astronomy (to which he introduced me) as something to be shared with him and I think he felt a little the same about me. . . . I know I must put as much energy if not as much interest into my work as if he were alive, because that is what he would like me to do.”"
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November 02, 2022 - November 02, 2022.
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Chapter 3. Turing Machines
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"“It seems probable that once the machine thinking method had started, it would not take long to outstrip our feeble powers. They would be able to converse with each other to sharpen their wits. At some stage therefore, we should have to expect the machines to take control.”
"—Alan Turing"
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"After the passing of his dear friend, Alan Turing did his best to carry on. By the end of 1930, he managed to secure a scholarship to start attending courses in math at the prestigious King’s College at Cambridge in the fall of 1931. It is said that through this generous scholarship and additional grant money received, Turing had all of his expenses taken care of. This was an envious position to be in for any student since many others were struggling to pay their tuition cost at the time."
It's unclear if that last bit is simply an off the hat comment by the author, since English top academic institutions weren't exactly pretending to take in indigent and brilliant of the world, or of UK, generally. Most students were aristocratic and those who were expected for whatever reason to spend time at college, whether capable or not of any academic excellence or even aptitude.
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"Besides science, math, and manning a rowboat, another aspect of college life also caught Turing’s eye during this period: politics. During his first few years at King’s College, Adolf Hitler rose to power in Germany. The Nazis were on the march, as were their international partners in fascism—Franco’s Spain, Mussolini’s Italy, and Tojo’s Japan. Many college students at the time, disgusted and alarmed at the rise of far-right fascism, naturally began to turn to what seemed to be its antithesis: Soviet communism. However, most young people of the time were ill-informed when it came to just how brutal the totalitarian dictatorship of communist Russia was. Alan Turing himself displayed such naivety when he wrote home in 1933 to declare, “I am thinking of going to Russia some time in vacation. I have joined an organization called the Anti-War Council. Politically it is rather communist.” However, Turing seems to have quickly forgotten all about the organization shortly after mentioning it. Indeed, he was so consumed with his studies that any real political leaning was an arbitrary afterthought at best."
Author shows bias there, openly - by mentioning brutality in Russia but not in US, where it was documented by authors such as Upton Sinclair.
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"Turing ultimately graduated from King’s College with distinction in 1934 and was granted a place as an official Fellow of the institution in 1935, at just 22 years of age. The major reason for him gaining this position was a paper Turing had written on the so-called central limit theorem. In his dissertation, Turing had proved the central limit theorem; the only trouble was, Turing was not the one who first came to this conclusion. Turing and the academics who critiqued his paper were apparently ignorant to the fact that a mathematician from Finland, Jarl Waldemar Lindberg, had stated much the same thing back in 1922.
"Nevertheless, the genius of Alan Turing could hardly be denied. He would soon get the chance to prove himself again with a paper submitted in 1936 entitled “On Computable Numbers, with an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem.” In this paper, Turing demonstrated that some decision problems are undecidable, meaning it is impossible to construct a single algorithm that will give the correct yes-or-no answer every time. The paper also introduced the idea of automatic machines (later called Turing machines), which can be described as a rudimentary form of computer programming. The Turing machines are able to read and write data on a strip of tape according to a table of rules. It was a simple approach, but with far-reaching applications. The Turing machine turned out to be a model for computation; it defines computing, computation, and what is computable. In his paper, Turing also described universal machines (later known as universal Turing machines) that could perform the tasks of any other computation machine—a notion which would inspire the development of the stored-program computer in the late 1940s.
"The theorems Turing produced in this paper, including his automatic and universal machines, are still studied today in theoretical computer science and mathematics. His efforts in this field are still very much valid."
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November 02, 2022 - November 02, 2022.
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Chapter 4. Breaking the Nazis’ Enigma Codes
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"“No, I’m not interested in developing a powerful brain. All I’m after is just a mediocre brain, something like the President of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company.”
"—Alan Turing"
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"Right on the heels of his academic breakthrough paper “On Computable Numbers,” Alan Turing joined a team of researchers in the United States at Princeton University to work on complicated logic theorems and advanced algebraic concepts. He set sail from the docks of Southampton, England, for the shores of the United States in September of 1936.
"Eccentric until the end, during his voyage, Turing made sure he brought his sextant with him for the trip. He had picked up the piece from a used store before he left Britain, and like some ancient mariner he was determined to make use of it as he crossed the ocean waters for America. One can only imagine how strange Turing may have looked to his fellow passengers as he took his measurements, but there was no love lost between Turing and his fellow boarders all the same. The ship housed some 5,000 passengers, and Turing quickly found the conditions on board the vessel most disagreeable. In one letter he wrote during the trip, he described the other passengers as nothing more than riff-raff which are best to be ignored.
"His ire was especially irked by the Americans he bumped elbows with, whom he termed “the most insufferable and insensitive creatures.” This was no doubt the first time that Turing had ever even been around Americans, so he was sure to add the wistful refrain that perhaps these particular samples of Americans were mere aberrations, writing, “One of them has just been talking to me and telling me of the worst aspects of America with evident pride. However, they may not all be like that.”
................................................................................................
"Turing would indeed get to know Americans quite well during his stay abroad, and by 1938, he would go on to earn his Ph.D. in mathematics from Princeton, before returning to British soil later that year. Turing was 26 years old and had come quite a long way since his days at Sherborne School. Now a recognized leader in his field, his unique talents started to attract attention from the British government. As Great Britain and its allies prepared to face off against Nazi Germany, they were in need of people who could help them decipher Germany’s encrypted lines of communication. With his background in cracking complex algorithms, Alan Turing was a natural choice for an expert in cryptology. In particular, he was put to work to figure out how to decode the Nazis’ famous Enigma machine."
"Turing’s efforts in breaking the Enigma codes would prove invaluable to the Allied war effort, saving countless lives due to the vital intelligence that was provided. The Battle of the Atlantic, in particular, provided the most dramatic example of just how important Turing’s code-breaking was."
"During his time as a cryptanalyst in this high-pressure environment, Turing struck up a close friendship with a fellow colleague. Her name was Joan Clarke, the only female member of the team and a true cryptographic pioneer in her own right. Turing and Clarke found themselves becoming more and more entwined as they spent day after day together, working frantically to crack German codes. Soon enough, they began to see each other outside of work as well. Although Turing still had strong feelings toward men, in his appreciation of Clarke, he started to see her as a potential partner and wife.
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"By 1941, he made up his mind to propose to her. According to Clarke, he was customarily direct and to the point when he asked her, “Would you consider marrying me?” Joan Clark was a bit surprised but later recalled that she didn’t hesitate to tell him “yes.” Upon receiving her assent, Turing knelt down and gave Joan a loving kiss. But despite this romantic gesture, from the beginning their relationship seemed to be on rocky footing. In a matter of months, the engagement was called off. After admitting to Clarke that he was homosexual, Turing felt that the marriage was doomed to fail and decided it was for the best to simply end the matter altogether. Despite their broken engagement, Turing and Clarke would remain friends and continued to work together.
"In 1942, Turing’s success as a cryptanalyst resulted in him being summoned to cross the Atlantic, paying a visit to the United States in November. He was summoned to America in order to assist the U.S. Navy’s cryptographers who had been busy cracking naval Enigma codes as well. Upon his return to the United Kingdom in March of 1943, Turing then set up shop where he had done the majority of his code breaking, in the top-secret wartime facility of Bletchley Park. It was at Bletchley Park that Turing’s team deciphered an astonishing 84,000 German codes per month. Bletchley was also where Alan Turing began to set about the realization of his dreams, the creation of an actual physical machine that could do the abstract calculations of his theoretical Turing machines in real time. In other words, Turing was determined to construct his first fully functioning and fully programmable computer."
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November 02, 2022 - November 02, 2022.
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Chapter 5. Taking the Turing Test
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"“Of course, machines can’t think as people do. A machine is different from a person. Hence, they think differently. The interesting question is, just because something thinks differently from you, does that mean it’s not thinking? Well, we allow for humans to have such divergences from one another. You like strawberries, I hate ice-skating, you cry at sad films, I am allergic to pollen. What is the point of—different tastes—different preferences? If not, to say that our brains work differently, that we think differently? And if we can say that about one another, then why can’t we say the same thing for brains built of copper, wire, and steel?”
"—Alan Turing"
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"It was on February 19, 1946 that Alan Turing ushered in a new phase in computer science by presenting to Britain’s National Physical Laboratory the first detailed design of a stored-program computer. ... The first prototype of ACE was up and running by 1950, but the full scope of Alan Turing’s design would not see the light of day until after his passing.
"The work was promising, but due to several procedural delays Turing became increasingly weary of the project and ultimately left at the end of 1947 in order to take a sabbatical at Cambridge. Here he burrowed his head in research that would culminate in a ground-breaking paper entitled “Intelligent Machinery.”
"In 1950, Turing reached another milestone in his research by presenting what has become known as the Turing test. Computer scientists had long wondered if there ever came a time in which intelligent machinery could become so advanced that you would not be able to tell that it was a machine. These scientific philosophers were essentially speculating about what today’s world refers to as artificial intelligence (AI). According to the litmus test that Alan Turing devised, we would know that a machine had crossed this threshold if it had gotten to the point that a human interrogator would not be able to reasonably tell through conversation the difference between that said piece of artificial intelligence and a real-life person.
" ... As the world moves ever closer to the day that computing machines reach true artificially intelligent capabilities, Turing’s efforts made over half a century ago still stand the test of time."
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November 02, 2022 - November 02, 2022.
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Chapter 6. Conviction and Chemical Castration
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"“I’m afraid that the following syllogism may be used by some in the future: ‘Turing believes machines think. Turing lies with men. Therefore machines do not think.’”
"—Alan Turing"
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"In 1951, shortly after Alan Turing turned 39 years old, he began to involve himself in a field of science called mathematical biology. It was in this field that he eventually wrote his masterful treatise on “The Chemical Basis of Morphogenesis.” This seminal work focused on the morphogenesis, or specific patterns created in nature seemingly at random. His primary pursuit in this research was to find an answer to the question of Fibonacci phyllotaxis, the phenomenon of number sequences existing within the structures of plants. The theory that Turing developed was that it was due to a reaction-diffusion system dispersing chemical compounds that accounted for the manifestation of this unique form of morphogenesis.
"Turing sought to discover the underlying mechanisms behind the splendid geometry of daisies, the intricate designs of a leopard’s spots, and even the complex structure of the human brain. In these efforts, Turing used the basic computing power he had on hand at the time in an attempt to reproduce the complex calculations involved in these occurrences observed in nature.
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" ... Alan Turing’s house was broken into and burglarized."
"Shortly after this, law enforcement returned to the scene, and after subjecting Turing to a rigorous battery of questions they discovered the romantic affair that Turing was having with Murray. In 1950s Britain, such unions were against the law, and the mere admission of which subjected Alan Turing to being vulnerable to arrest. Turing was ultimately accused of committing gross indecency for his liaisons with Arnold Murray. Turing was then promptly sent to trial where, after a rather lackluster defense, he was found guilty on March 31, 1952."
"Turing initially attempted to put a brave face, stating, “No doubt I shall emerge from it all a different man, but quite who I’ve not found out.” Sadly, he would indeed be irreversibly changed by the harsh treatment his country had put him through. Turing had been experimenting with the mathematics behind biology but was interrupted by his government, which sought to subject him to its own experimentation of the cruelest kind."
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November 02, 2022 - November 02, 2022.
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Chapter 7. Life Made Unbearable
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"“Being on probation my shining virtue was terrific, and had to be. If I had so much as parked my bicycle on the wrong side of the road there might have been 12 years for me.”
"—Alan Turing"
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"Besides the physical side effects of the chemical injections he was forced to undergo, Alan Turing had become officially blacklisted careerwise. Ironically enough, even though Alan Turing was instrumental in the success of Britain’s top-secret code-breaking efforts against the Germans, he found himself with all of his security clearances suddenly revoked. This rendered him unable to continue as a cryptologist, even though he was the undisputed leader in the field.
"As an immediate consequence, even though his passport was never denied him, he would face certain travel restrictions. The United States, for example, would not allow Turing to enter the country any longer. As a result, in the last years of his life, Turing was only able to visit countries on the European continent, which still proved friendly to the spurned mathematician. Part of the reasoning that countries such as the United States used for such drastic measures against Turing was that in the depths of Cold War hysteria there were fears that a homosexual scientist could be easily compromised into giving up secrets to Russian spies. It seems that although Cold War warriors could look the other way when it came to heterosexual men being possibly compromised by female Russian spies, they were exceedingly worried about gay men being led astray by liaisons with gay Soviets. This was the sad state of affairs that existed in the mid-twentieth century, and the hand that Alan Turing had been dealt.
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"In addition to having his personal life mercilessly destroyed, Turing’s ground-breaking work that he had painstakingly put in for the British government was of little comfort to him. With his achievements labeled as top secret, Turing was ordered never to even mention his prior achievements. Citing the Official Secrets Act—a British ruling to put a gag order on anything deemed to be state secrets—much of Turing’s work would not see the light of day until the 1970s. It is largely due to this act that the world is just now beginning to realize how important Alan Turing’s work was—not only to the wartime effort, but also for the development of the computer and further concepts of artificial intelligence.
"In the end, the only thing that wasn’t denied Alan Turing was his academic position, but even that was marred by the way his reputation had been tarnished. Unfortunately, things would never be quite the same for Alan Turing again. Nevertheless, he soldiered on as best he could, exacting much needed emotional support from his close circle of friends during this difficult time.
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"One good friend of his during this period was a man by the name of Alan Garner. Turing had met Garner in 1951 when Garner was just 17 years old. Garner was a student at the Manchester Grammar School at the time, and he was also an avid runner—a passion that Turing himself held for most of his life. The two met on the track, struck up a conversation, and thereafter became running partners. They got along well enough, and they found that they had a lot in common besides running. They both enjoyed discussing the latest in scientific research, and they both shared a very quirky sense of humor. During the course of their conversations, they also discovered that they both had a long-standing fascination with the Walt Disney movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.
"The film had debuted as the first color, feature-length cartoon in 1937, and Alan Turing had been enthralled by it since the first time he laid eyes on it. For him, it was more than just a well-conveyed children’s tale. Turing believed Disney’s creation was absolute genius, even though most around him could not quite understand his obsession. For many, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves was just an entertaining film, but for Turing, seeing Snow White was a life-changing experience that spoke to the inner core of his being.
"The film had made a significant impact on Alan Garner as well. He recalled being just five years old when the film came out and being terrified by the scene in which Snow White is given the poisoned apple. Alan Turing, however, countered that the apple was not meant to be frightening but rather a larger metaphor for life. He then launched into a long-winded dialogue about the “ambiguity of the apple, red on one side, green on the other” and how one side gave life, while the other gave certain death. The Disney film had struck such a deep chord in Alan Turing’s subconscious mind that it had apparently sparked his own speculative philosophy on the nature of life and death.
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"Sadly, not long after this profound exchange, Alan Garner would be contacted by the police and ordered to cease all contact with Alan Turing. The authorities had apparently been watching Turing’s contacts rather closely since his arrest and were worried that this friendship would turn into something more. Garner would later contend that when this imposition was placed upon him by the police in 1952, he hadn’t even heard of what had happened to Turing. The teenager found himself enraged by the fact that the police insinuated that he was potentially being profiled by a predator and insisted that Alan Turing was nothing of the kind. Nevertheless, Garner would not see Turing again until 1953, shortly before his death.
"Their crossing paths was a simple, random coincidence, as they both boarded the same bus. Garner was with his girlfriend at the time and, feeling painfully awkward in the situation, he chose to act as if he didn’t realize Turing was on board. Garner, who later became a celebrated author, wouldn’t retell the story of this painful last encounter until many years later. But this one momentary snub that he felt compelled to execute would stick with him for the rest of his life."
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November 02, 2022 - November 02, 2022.
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Chapter 8. The Poison Apple
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"Compounding Turing’s increasing anxiety was the constant monitoring that the police subjected him to. Even though he was doing everything within his power to comply with their demands, their dogged pursuit of his every activity was severely grating on his nerves. This constant surveillance seems to have surfaced in 1953 when a friend of Turing’s named Kjell, who happened to be gay, proposed to leave his native Norway to pay the mathematician a visit. Even though nothing physical had ever occurred between the two men, the police, who had apparently been reading Turing’s correspondence, pounced upon Kjell’s intention to visit and blocked him from ever arriving in Britain. Such instances were not only deeply distressing to Turing, but also embarrassing."
" ... It was on June 8, 1954 that Alan Turing was found dead ... "
"Alan Turing had died at some time during the previous night, on June 7, from what his autopsy would determine to be a case of cyanide poisoning. For the most part, his room seemed to be in normal condition; it was a bit untidy, but there was no sign of struggle or duress. Yet there was one aspect of the scene, held as insignificant except for those who knew him best, which required further scrutiny. Laying by the side of the deceased Alan Turing was an apple that appeared to have just been bitten into."
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November 02, 2022 - November 02, 2022.
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Chapter 9. The Long-Awaited Apology
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"“I don’t think I really do know much about jobs, except the one I had during the war.”
"—Alan Turing"
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"It has long been assumed that Alan Turing committed suicide, but the circumstances in which Turing was found opened the door to the possibility that his death may have been an accident after all. It just so happens that Turing’s latest project right before his demise was one of electroplating gold onto spoons. To make the gold malleable enough for the process to work, potassium cyanide is used. Some have theorized that Turing either inhaled cyanide fumes from the apparatus he used, or that perhaps he accidentally contaminated the apple and ingested the lethal dose of cyanide in this fashion. It has also been pointed out that it was not unusual at all to find a half-consumed apple in Turing’s bedroom. It was actually a regular routine of his to eat an apple before falling asleep, and he often left the remnants of his night-time snack on his nightstand.
"In this sense, there was no reason to assume that the apple found on the day of his death was any more remarkable than any other apple his housekeeper may have found lying around on the days before his demise. It is only for those that infer that Alan Turing took his life that this particular apple would have meaning and significance. The easiest way to determine whether the discarded apple played any role at all would have been to have had it tested as forensic evidence. But alas, those investigating the scene of his death did not take care to do so; the apple was quickly discarded and forgotten.
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"One of the most steadfast proponents of the theory that Turing’s death was accidental was his mother. However, as his friends often pointed out, Turing would never have wanted to add to his mother’s heartbreak by having her come to the conclusion that he had committed suicide. They asserted that it was probably for this reason that Turing allowed for the plausible deniability of the act by having an apparatus that used cyanide near him at the time he chose to end his life. According to some, this was a smokescreen he used to shield his mother and other family members from further emotional trauma."
" ... posthumous groundswell of support that Alan Turing received came to a tipping point in the summer of 2009 when tech guru John Graham-Cumming successfully petitioned the British government to make amends for the ill-treatment that Alan Turing had received. The response was overwhelming—in all, over 30,000 petitioners had signed on to the request for a formal apology to be issued to Alan Turing. This prompted Prime Minister Gordon Brown to issue a statement on September 10, 2009, in which he did in indeed issue a formal apology. Although Gordon Brown was only a toddler when Alan Turing had died, as the current representative of the British powers that be, many felt it important to finally issue this acknowledgment of the prosecution of Alan Turing.
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"As Brown proclaimed, “Thousands of people have come together to demand justice for Alan Turing and recognition of the appalling way he was treated. While Turing was dealt with under the law of the time and we can’t put the clock back, his treatment was of course utterly unfair and I am pleased to have the chance to say how deeply sorry I and we all are for what happened to him. ... "
"Prime Minister Gordon Brown then went on to state, “This recognition of Alan’s status as one of Britain’s most famous victims of homophobia is another step towards equality, and long overdue. But even more than that, Alan deserves recognition for his contribution to humankind.” Gordon finalized his posthumous apology to Turing with the words, “On behalf of the British government, and all those who live freely thanks to Alan’s work I am very proud to say: we’re sorry, you deserved so much better.”
"This official apology given by Gordon Brown was then followed by an official pardon that was given by none other than the queen of the United Kingdom, Elizabeth II, in 2014. The British government also made it clear that they intended to extend their pardon to other men who had suffered the same persecution as Turing. ... "
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November 02, 2022 - November 02, 2022.
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Conclusion
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"Alan Turing’s life was one full of imagination and progress—just about every breath he took was merely a pause between ideas. The modern world owes so much to his brilliant mind that it could hardly be overstated. Besides Turing’s major contributions to computing and his theories on artificial intelligence, it could be said that the free world owes its very freedom to the efforts of Alan Turing.
"With his work being classified and hidden away until the 1970s by the British government, it has only recently come to light how pivotal a role Alan Turing played in the Allied war effort during World War II. Without the uniquely gifted mind of Alan Turing, it remains doubtful that the encrypted messages created by the German Enigma machine would ever have been cracked."
" ... It was none other than another great mathematical mind, the brilliant John von Neumann, who often speculated just how much further Turing’s delving into the intricacies of math and computations might have led him if he was not interrupted by the war and by being tasked with cracking the codes of the Enigma machine. Von Neumann believed that the genius of Turing left uninhibited could do much more than crack the coded messages of Nazis—perhaps he could have cracked the very mysteries of the universe itself."
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November 02, 2022 - November 02, 2022.
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Alan Turing: A Life
From Beginning to End
(World War 2 Biographies),
by Hourly History.
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November 02, 2022 - November 03, 2022.
Purchased November 02, 2022.
ASIN:- B07QMQZ23X
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Alan Turing: A Life
From Beginning to End
(World War 2 Biographies),
by Hourly History.
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https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5080628764
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