Its been long overdue, but the British PM issued today a public apology to Alan Turing. On popular media, and in Gordon’s public note, Alan Turing is mentioned mainly for his contribution to the breaking of the German code in WW2. However, in my mind, his most profound contribution is to the structure of computers. Every computer we use today, every router and machine that enables you to read this blog post, is structured almost perfectly according to Turing’s design. His work was not merely technical. It was a breakthrough. He introduced an elegant and simple design, which did not change very much in the last 60 years. The human kind will be forever in debt to Turing for this contribution.
The mechanism that led Turing to his death, for the single reason of being gay, is a dark stain on our society. Gordon’s apology is important because this is not a problem of days past. It is a current problem. A month ago, an unidentified man had shot gay teens in a community center in Tel Aviv. Two of them were killed. In the U.S., gays are thrown out of the army if they do not hide their identity. All over the world, people are forced to hide in shame or to suffer grieve consequences. This is exactly the choice that Turing had faced. Admitting that this is wrong is an important step.
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