Alan Turing to be on 50 pound notes

[Jingthing]

If you don't know the story of Alan Turing, take the time to learn about him.

When I first heard this news, knowing of his accomplishments (in computer science and as a codebreaker to help beat the Nazis) and the brutal way he was later treated by the U.K. government just for being a gay man, tears came to my eyes.

 

If only he could know about this.

 

https://time.com/5626394/alan-turing-50-pound-note/

 

 

Edited July 16, 2019 by Jingthing

[darksidedog]

Yes, I saw the Governor of the Bank of England discussing it in the official announcement. I was very pleasantly surprised when I heard the name, and my immediate take on it was, WOW! That is as close to a genuine posthumous apology for the terrible way such a saviour of the nation was treated, as I am ever likely to see.

[vogie]

One of the best movies I've watched is 'The Imitation Game' starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Alan Turin about his life story and how he was instrumental in breaking the Enigma code.

Edited July 16, 2019 by vogie

[Jip99]

4 minutes ago, vogie said:

One of the best movies I've watched is 'The Imitation Game' staring Benedict Cumberbatch as Alan Turin about his life story and how he was instrumental in breaking the Enigma code.

 

 

+1

 

My Thai missus cried at the end and said "How could your government do that to a man who did so much..."

[ThreeEyedRaven]

It shows how far we have come as understanding individuals that the British Government can so publicly acknowledge and laud a person that it vilified not so many years back. I am sure some very serious discussion went into the decision, and am extremely happy that the consensus at the end of things worked out like this. It is so very tragic that he never knew about this recognition and accolade.

[Jingthing]

In the U.S. we have a phrase -- queer as a two dollar bill.

I wonder if Brits will say queer as 50 quid (but not in a bad way). 

[Jingthing]

But I assume the note won't be PINK, as in the pink pound.

[soalbundy]

23 minutes ago, darksidedog said:

Yes, I saw the Governor of the Bank of England discussing it in the official announcement. I was very pleasantly surprised when I heard the name, and my immediate take on it was, WOW! That is as close to a genuine posthumous apology for the terrible way such a saviour of the nation was treated, as I am ever likely to see.

I bet he is pleased. The honour is too late, a home fit for heroes, thank you we have heard it all before, all you get is a kick in the b0ll0cks.

[Jip99]

6 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

In the U.S. we have a phrase -- queer as a two dollar bill.

I wonder if Brits will say queer as 50 quid (but not in a bad way). 

 

 

Bent as a "Nine Bob note" was a previous reference.

 

Bent as a 50 Pound note ?? ..... it has potential

[soalbundy]

Just now, Jingthing said:

But I assume the note won't be PINK, as in the pink pound.

Maybe red as in blushing for shame at the treatment of a man who did so much for his country.

[ezzra]

48 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

the brutal way he was later treated by the U.K. government just for being a gay man

So essentially and if i'm not wrong, that will make him the first gay man to be depicted on a banknote, i wonder what will those homophobic people will do when they will be handed this banknote, will they touch it or wear gloves to handle it?...

[soalbundy]

11 minutes ago, ThreeEyedRaven said:

It shows how far we have come as understanding individuals that the British Government can so publicly acknowledge and laud a person that it vilified not so many years back. I am sure some very serious discussion went into the decision, and am extremely happy that the consensus at the end of things worked out like this. It is so very tragic that he never knew about this recognition and accolade.

Why should there have even been a serious discussion in this day and age.

[Jingthing]

3 minutes ago, ezzra said:

So essentially and if i'm not wrong, that will make him the first gay man to be depicted on a banknote, i wonder what will those homophobic people will do when they will be handed this banknote, will they touch it or wear gloves to handle it?...

I would imagine there are gay men on bank notes throughout the world. Not out gay men. Was Turing really out when he was alive either? Of course he was forced out by the legal system there but otherwise I don't think that he was.

 

Not at the level of a bank note but in the U.S. we have a Harvey Milk postage stamp. But who mails letters these days? 

Edited July 16, 2019 by Jingthing

[soalbundy]

Just now, ezzra said:

So essentially and if i'm not wrong, that will make him the first gay man to be depicted on a banknote, i wonder what will those homophobic people will do when they will be handed this banknote, will they touch it or wear gloves to handle it?...

If they have an ounce of brain they will remember the man (and his post office engineer) who built the world's first computer and helped save his country from defeat and was then hounded to death by a 'grateful' government.

[RJRS1301]

1 hour ago, vogie said:

One of the best movies I've watched is 'The Imitation Game' starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Alan Turin about his life story and how he was instrumental in breaking the Enigma code.

I think that movie did more to bring this amazing mind to the notice of the ordinary person

 

[Lacessit]

Brits are quite peculiar with public figures. Without Turing, they quite possibly would have lost the Second World War.

At the same time, there is a statue of Field Marshal Haig in Whitehall. He ran up a butcher's bill of 2 million casualties before and during the Battle of the Somme, effectively wiping out a generation of young men. His abject military skills are excused on the basis he eventually won the war.

It was actually an Australian general, Sir John Monash, who planned the successful Battle of Amiens which broke the stalemate. His contribution is largely ignored by British historians, because he was Jewish.

As we say in Oz, they're a weird mob.

[Enoon]

 

2 hours ago, vogie said:

One of the best movies I've watched is 'The Imitation Game' starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Alan Turin about his life story and how he was instrumental in breaking the Enigma code.

 

Not seen the "movie".

 

But I'm sure it's very......"entertaining".

 

When I read, in 1990, the book upon which it is very loosely based (Alan Turing: The Enigma of Intelligence) I found it a bit......"stodgy".  However "Siezing the Enigma", which tells the wider historical story is much more digestible.

 

Turing was but one of many significant players in a more complex, real life drama, stretching back to the 1920's/30's and Poland:

 

"Poland was the first to realize that the solution to breaking ENIGMA would most likely be discovered by a mathematician. Polish cryptanalysts as early as 1932 could decode German ciphers and, by 1939, they were able to successfully decipher messages written with an earlier version of ENIGMA using a replica machine that could emulate the way ENIGMA worked."

https://www.cia.gov/news-information/blog/2016/who-first-cracked-the-enigma-cipher.html

 

The Poles then shared the secret with Britain and France.

 

Cryptanalysis of the Enigma - Wikipedia

 

"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants."

                                                                              Isaac Newton, 1675

 

 

 

Edited July 16, 2019 by Enoon

[steven2018]

Genius knows no sexual orientation.

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[Jingthing]

33 minutes ago, steven2018 said:

Genius knows no sexual orientation.

Sent from my KFFOWI using Tapatalk
 

Tell that to the blankety blanks that chemically castrated him! 

[steven2018]

Tell that to the blankety blanks that chemically castrated him! 

They did that when there was no more use for him.

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[murrinman]

homo or not a great man 

[Jingthing]

1 hour ago, murrinman said:

homo or not a great man 

Is that a question?

Homo.