Alan Turing's 100th Birthday - Mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst, scientist

I persuaded New Scientist to open the special on Turing that I wrote to non-subscribers: <a href="http://blog.jgc.org/2012/06/new-scientists-instant-expert-on-alan.html" rel="nofollow">http://blog.jgc.org/2012/06/new-scientists-instant-expert-on...</a>

I don't think it's possible to celebrate Turing's life without mentioning how his life ended. Turing was without a doubt a war hero. His work allowed the Allies to crack the Nazi's enigma code, without which the war could have gone very differently. Nonetheless, a few years after the war the UK government, upon discovering that Turing was gay, prosecuted him for homosexual activities and treated him horrifically. His security clearance was revoked, and it's not hard to imagine that this had something to do with his suicide at age 42. Just something to keep in mind on this gay pride weekend.<p>It seems the barbarians of medievalism and quackery are always there just outside the gates, ready to drag us back into the dark ages if those who value science over superstition don't proactively keep the light burning.<p>Anyone know of any Turing events going on in the Bay Area?

There's a conference in his honour this weekend in Manchester, where he did much of his work. On the list of speakers are Hoare, Knuth, Penrose, Cerf, Kasparov, Fred Brooks, Rodny Brooks, Shamir, and many others. It's quite exciting to get so many luminaries in the same event.<p><a href="http://www.turing100.manchester.ac.uk/" rel="nofollow">http://www.turing100.manchester.ac.uk/</a><p>Edit: It's also quite expensive!

I'm participating in an event tonight in Seattle that commemorates Turing's life and work: <a href="http://synthesist.net/music/turing/" rel="nofollow">http://synthesist.net/music/turing/</a><p>It's very avant-garde -- sort of a mix between a concert and an exhibit. I'm not 100% sure what to expect from it, since I've only been working with a few of the musical elements. It looks interesting though.

Check out Google's doodle commemorating Turing's birthday.<p><a href="http://www.google.co.nz/" rel="nofollow">http://www.google.co.nz/</a>

Here's to a man who brought newtonian's out of the stone age. Chaos baby,...Chaos.<p>Ref: <a href="http://youtu.be/R6NnCOs20GQ" rel="nofollow">http://youtu.be/R6NnCOs20GQ</a>