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Since Alan Turing held an earned PhD from Princeton University, as is explicitly detailed in the later section "University and work on computability," and since it is customary to note that degree after the holder's name, I think it should be added to the first sentence. I would do it myself, except that I don't know whether it should precede or follow the notations of his British honors. Dick Kimball ( talk) 12:38, 28 May 2010 (UTC)
Is there any stronger evidence for Snow White having been Turing's "favorite fairy tale"?
Did the cited author -- Timothy Ferris -- know Turing or have a source who did?
The language of his book's one Turing reference doesn't seem to imply as much.
-- Bcjordan ( talk) 19:17, 11 November 2009 (UTC)
The following has been added to "In Culture"
"Turing appears as a character in the 1999 novel Cryptonomicon by American writer Neal Stephenson. The bestselling book is a fictional account of codebreaking during World War II along with related plot developments. The text includes references to Turing's homosexuality."
It reads OK to me. It shows that Turing has become a significant character in modern times. It links to another Wikipedia article. Can't see a problem with it. HiLo48 ( talk) 01:10, 7 January 2010 (UTC)
Yeah Its Fine. It shows even though he was a homosexual he was a great mathematician. 10:54, 22 January 2010 (CMS) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.153.118.208 ( talk)
Does anyone object to me setting up automatic archiving for this page using MiszaBot? Unless otherwise agreed, I would set it to archive threads that have been inactive for 30 days and keep ten threads.-- Oneiros ( talk) 23:07, 24 January 2010 (UTC)
I've just flagged the "In Culture" as trivia, needing attention, for two reasons. Firstly, sections are heavily deprecated with the current policy to incorporate information where appropriate rather than just drop in random facts. Secondly, while the sentence linking Turing with the Apple logo has been refuted, I would have thought the better approach would be to delete the wrong urban rumour. After all, this is an article about Turing, not Apple. However, I'm new to this article so am not WP:BOLD enough just to zap it without canvassing opinion here first. Etrigan ( talk) 00:42, 25 January 2010 (UTC)
Done
Etrigan (
talk) 11:00, 29 January 2010 (UTC)
Editors on the (o)estrogen war need to go review all of WP:ENGVAR, WP:TIES and WP:RETAIN and after so doing, leave the british spelling alone please! Etrigan ( talk) 18:56, 14 February 2010 (UTC)
Jeez, people. Take a break. We're talking about something, lay off the article until the talk settles. Get over yourselves! It doesn't acutally matter which way the article is. Etrigan ( talk) 23:19, 15 February 2010 (UTC)
Some parts of this article lack substantiation and may misrepresent Turing's contributions.
For example, the section titled "University and work on computability" contains the statement "Turing machines are to this day the central object of study in theory of computation." While Turing machines are certainly studied, I am not sure they are "the central object of study." The decision problem was solved separately by Chuch, Goedel, and Turing, who respectively proposed the lambda calculus, recursive functions, and Turing machines. The Zentralbatt MATH online database is the single most comprehensive index of mathematical work so it can be used to assess the claim. The all-time count of papers about these three subjects (lamda calculus, recursive functions, and Turing machines) are 3498, 3204, and 1591, respectively. Thus it would seem Chuch's lambda calculus is a more "central" object of study.
I am not saying that Turing's contributions are exaggerated, rather that some care is needed to explain them lest unsubstantiated claims are made that only serve to lesson Turing's reputation. Jfgrcar ( talk) 20:21, 17 February 2010 (UTC)
RG Kightley comments: there is no mention here of Turing constructing the Collosus Computer with Tommy Flowers. Built using radio transistor valves it was the precursor of modern computers. The USA was given one of the computers in order to aid the war effort. Many U.S.A. patents assumed ownership of the British technology. It has been necessary to minimise the contribution of Turing as a result. If Mr. Turing were alive today ,no doubt he would be being sued by Oracle and Microsoft for breach of patent, as these companies have assumed ownership of Operating Systems in order to control the world market. 86.9.13.234 ( talk) 12:27, 17 March 2011 (UTC)
The caption for the photo says that the Bombe replica is "Complete and working".
Although this is true today, in the photo it is still under construction, with only two reels installed. -- Mwongozi ( talk) 12:27, 23 June 2010 (UTC)
Turing does not appear in the page for Category "Computer pioneers", though this article is tagged with that category. Is there something wrong with the format of that section or some bug in wikipedia? -- Ericjs ( talk) 22:50, 23 November 2010 (UTC)
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Could someone clarify why the category Athletes who committed suicide is relevant? The article makes no mention of Turing being recognized as an athlete apart from his cycling. Not everyone who enjoys going for a run is a professional athlete. Fæ ( talk) 10:59, 1 July 2011 (UTC)
Footnote #76 points to a UK govt website that apparently once carried a copy of Gordon Brown's apology for its treatment of Alan Turing.
http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page20571
The link no longer works, removed, I presume, by the present government, which is run by conservatives who may approve of the way Turing was treated. Rather than deleting the link, I suggest that it be left as is, with a comment added about the apparent suppression of the apology by the present government. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Rexpage ( talk • contribs) 16:09, 4 September 2011 (UTC)
The link currently being used for the Prime Minister's apology does not actually contain the text of the apology. It is just an article -about- the apology. Would not this link be a better fit? It contains the full text of Gordon Brown's letter. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/gordon-brown/6170112/Gordon-Brown-Im-proud-to-say-sorry-to-a-real-war-hero.html — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.111.198.79 ( talk) 06:17, 11 October 2011 (UTC)
The apology is at http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20091003064609/http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page20571 It didn't take very long to find. Mr Stephen ( talk) 06:56, 11 October 2011 (UTC)
http://www.i-programmer.info/news/82-heritage/3735-widespread-celebrations-but-no-pardon-for-turing.html — Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.69.247.2 ( talk) 23:05, 6 February 2012 (UTC)
I just read this statement from the article:
While Turing's proof was published subsequent to Alonzo Church's equivalent proof in respect to his lambda calculus, he was unaware of Church's work at the time.
But the paper in question, On Computable Numbers, With an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem, specifically refers to Church's work:
In a recent paper Alonzo Church† has introduced an idea of "effective calculability", which is equivalent to my "computability", but is very differently defined. Church also reaches similar conclusions about the Entscheidungsproblem††.
- † Alonzo Church, "An unsolvable problem of elementary number theory", American J. of Math., 58 (1936), 345-363.
- †† Alonzo Church, "A note on the Entscheidungsproblem", J. of Symbolic Logic, 1 (1936), 40-41.
It seems as though Turing was aware of Church's proof. Am I misreading the Wikipedia article? I have put a dubious tag on there, because I'm not 100% sure that this is the proof he was talking about. — MattGiuca ( talk) 06:57, 8 February 2012 (UTC)
Check out this -- something about Turing's hypothesis about patterns such as tiger stripes being proved.-- Tomwsulcer ( talk) 03:10, 21 February 2012 (UTC)
Is this still in existence? -- TedColes ( talk) 14:46, 25 April 2012 (UTC)
I have reverted a good faith edit to the lead. An anonymous editor at 204.86.64.67 moved the following sentence from the first paragraph of the lead to the section on Childhood and youth. "He showed many of the characteristics that are indicative of Asperger syndrome.[5]" Given that Asperger did not describe his syndrome until 1944 and the paper at reference [5] was published in 2003, the lead seems to me to be a much more appropriate place. What do others think?
The same editor removed completely the following. "He was stockily built, had a high-pitched voice, and was talkative, witty, and somewhat donnish.[4]" This was taken from a recent newspaper article by the novelist Alan Garner. Again, what do others think?
-- TedColes ( talk) 17:30, 6 February 2012 (UTC)
User:Trivialist removed the reference to the fact that Turing, in the view of of two psychiatrists published in a peer-revied journal, showed clear evidence of some of the main diagnostic features of Asberger's syndrome. I have restored this information as it seems to me to reveal an important aspect of his character. -- TedColes ( talk) 11:55, 15 April 2012 (UTC)
It examines the following criteria:He was regarded as being socially aloof and eccentric by colleagues and friends. He was interested in mathematics, chemistry and logic from an early age, to the exclusion of other activities. This paper attempts to establish whether he fulfilled the criteria for Asperger's syndrome.
I find this quite clear and very useful in helping to understand some of Turing's unusual behaviour.-- TedColes ( talk) 08:00, 2 June 2012 (UTC)This paper has set out to explore the evidence for Asperger's syndrome in Alan Turing. According to his biography and contemporary accounts of him, he certainly met Gilberg's criteria, ICD-10 criteria and DSM-IV criteria for Asperger's syndrome.
At the beginning of the Conviction for indecency section there is a quote (one of the longest in the article) from a book by Anthony Cave Brown, which is about someone else but has a couple of pages about Turing. The quote refers to Turing as an "agressive homosexual" and says he was suspected of molesting schoolboys in Luton Library. In the book Cave Brown does not give any source for these statements, although the book does have references. The Guardian obituary for Cave Brown does not speak highly of his accuracy, and I can't see anything else in the article to support either of these statements. Turing was convicted of something that is no longer criminal (sex with consenting adult) but in this quote he is being suspected of something that is still very much criminal (if the boys were underage or unwilling) so I wondered if it really belongs here. Does anyone know of any other source that would support or contradict what Cave Brown says? Cave Brown goes on to say that this was why Turing was transferred to Hanslope Park - has anyone got another explanation for his transfer? Southdevonian ( talk) 17:57, 2 June 2012 (UTC)
So the explanation for the move to Hanslope seems unlikely. I have removed the quote as it appears to be (in the original book) malicious gossip without a source. Anyway it is not so well-written that it deserves to go in as a long quote. Southdevonian ( talk) 11:23, 3 June 2012 (UTC)
It's unlikely he was a pedophile given that he was exclusively homosexual. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 109.155.125.116 ( talk) 20:21, 14 June 2012 (UTC)
"The petition has over 34,000 signatures, but the request was declined by Lord McNally" This is a bit misleading: it has ~34 000 signatures NOW but when Lord McNally declined it, it had 21 000] as stated in previous revisions.-- Kyng ( talk) 13:57, 14 June 2012 (UTC)
Does this require a little more explanation than just a link to the image of one of the postcards in Turing archive? Chosen when? and by whom? and to what end? Thanks. Martinevans123 ( talk) 22:39, 21 June 2012 (UTC)
Wibblywobblybibblybobbly ( talk) 08:43, 22 June 2012 (UTC) RE: Turing's supposed 'Epitaph'. Do any authorities state that this is indeed Turing's epitaph, or is it only in the Wikipedia entry because the person who put it there feels that it would be appropriate as one? Turing sent this poem in a letter; there is no indication in the Turing Digital Archive that it was used, or intended to be used, as an epitaph. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography states that Turing was cremated, and as there does not appear to be a grave, there can be no epitaph in the strict sense of the word. The memorial plaque in Sackville Park does not feature the poem.
As I've just heard on the news that it's the centenary of Turing's birth tomorrow I've made a proposal here that he be included in "on this day" for the 23rd , although it may be too late. Richerman (talk) 14:15, 22 June 2012 (UTC)
I have removed this sentence because no-one provided a source "In his memoirs Turing wrote that he was disappointed about the reception of this 1936 paper, which also introduced the notion of definable numbers, and that only two people had reacted – these being Heinrich Scholz and Richard Bevan Braithwaite. citation needed" Did Turing even write his memoirs? I have a feeling not. Southdevonian ( talk) 22:15, 22 June 2012 (UTC)
Turing Lecture 2008 at Bletchley Park
Bletchley Park is holding the annual Turing Lecture 2008 on Thursday, 10th July. Dr Andrew Hodges, tutor in Mathematics and Fellow of Wadham College, University of Oxford, will discuss some of the unresolved issues that have come to the forefront, as historians of science strive to understand the development of Turing’s thought.
Also, on June 22, 2012, on what would have been his 100th birthday he was honored on Google's famous "Google Doodle". — Preceding unsigned comment added by SRB9586 ( talk • contribs) 04:59, 23 June 2012 (UTC)
In the above section it says "After Murray helped an accomplice to break into his house, Turing reported the crime to the police" Whose house did the accomplice break into - Murray's or Turing's? Richerman (talk) 23:16, 22 June 2012 (UTC)
Wasn't his birthday on the 22nd June 1912? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.210.187.95 ( talk) 00:03, 23 June 2012 (UTC)
User:Lewallen has deleted some substantial, verifiable information about Turing's personal characteristics, saying "(I removed the description of Turing's physical attributes ("stockily built") style ("talkative and witty") and potential Aspergers from the first paragraph. Similar entries on other people do not include such information in the opening)". It seems to me that these details help readers to understand better an important and somewhat puzzling person, so I am going to restore this information pending a consensus here that it should be removed. -- TedColes ( talk) 14:33, 8 May 2012 (UTC)
There is derogatory and very offensive comment at the top of the article about his homosexuality which seems to have escaped being edited out by wiki editors. The man deserves respect. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.67.71.19 ( talk) 03:39, 23 June 2012 (UTC)
Hi, I just think it's informative to complement about the doodle with the binary code used for the letters on the doodle, known as Baudot code: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baudot_code. An International telegraphy alphabet. Currently I have no rights to do that.
The article says:
Hodges and David Leavitt have suggested that Turing was re-enacting a scene from the 1937 film Snow White, his favourite fairy tale, both noting that (in Leavitt's words) he took "an especially keen pleasure in the scene where the Wicked Queen immerses her apple in the poisonous brew."
David Leavitt is an american novelist born in 1961, who obviously never knew Turing personally. What are the evidences that Alan Turing took "an especially keen pleasure" reenacting the scene from Snow White? This affirmation looks ridiculous, gratuitous and a stereotype about homosexual men.
In the article about Leavitt it is said that "Leavitt, who is openly gay,[2] has frequently explored gay issues in his work.[1]". My guess is that he is projecting his own thoughts onto Alan Turing. How serious and reliable is Leavitt's biography of Turing?--
89.226.117.72 (
talk) 10:00, 23 June 2012 (UTC)
Just came across an article arguing that today, a coroner would not have had sufficient evidence to rule Turing's death a suicide. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18561092 Can this be added to the article? 68.115.35.110 ( talk) 11:01, 23 June 2012 (UTC)
He was murdered. The court ruling pronounced that he committed suicide but in all actuality it's not logical. The lethal dose of potassium or sodium cyanide is 200 to 300 mg and of hydrocyanic acid is 50 mg. Effects begin within seconds of inhalation and within 30 min of ingestion. General weakness, confusion, bizarre behavior, excessive sleepiness, coma, shortness of breath, headache, dizziness, and seizures can all present with cyanide poisoning. Typically, an acute ingestion will have a dramatic, rapid onset, immediately affecting the heart and causing sudden collapse. It can also immediately affect the brain and cause a seizure or coma.
Apple seeds to contain traces amounts of cyanide but not enough for a lethal dose even with constant exposure. A theory is that his apple was injected with the lethal amount of cyanide. As Alan ingested the apple he began to feel the initial effects of poison. In this case, he would have set the apple down and within 30 minutes or less he would be pronounced deceased.
The murderer of Alan Turing would have these key features as follows: 1) Possessed knowledge of Alan's habit of eating apples before rest. 2) Access to Alan's room. 3) Access to Alan's apples 4) Knowledge and access to cyanide and syringes {Most likely found within Alan's Laboratory and chemical cache.} 5) Knowledge of Alan's schedule both daily and nightly events.
Some may consider Alan Turing's housekeeper as a possible suspect but who's to say that the murderer didn't already plan in advance. The housekeeper was likely to find Alan's body within a 24 to 48 hour period of death due to Alan's absence from his duties. This would add another key feature, the schedule of the housekeeper.
An alternate theory would be inhalation of cyanide. In order for that to happen, one would have to have prior knowledge of the tiny room and access to the device that Alan used to dissolve gold. If so that apparatus contained a gaseous form potassium cyanide, as the housekeeper walked in she would immediately feel the effects. Alan Turing would know the safety precautions of his equipment and not be a procrastinator with gold.
A question arises, "Would you kill yourself when you know how to melt, dissolve, and reform your own gold?" User-Fylnn ( talk) 05:58, 24 June 2012 (UTC)
This suicide is indeed questionable. User-Fylnn ( talk) 05:58, 24 June 2012 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by User-Fylnn ( talk • contribs) 05:55, 24 June 2012 (UTC)
See also "Did Alan Turing really commit suicide?" at http://www.osnews.com/story/26114/Did_Alan_Turing_really_commit_suicide_ -- Nevarine 07:57, 26 giu 2012 (CEST) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 151.77.164.234 ( talk)
In the section about Tributes by Universities, I think should be introduced also the following:
Frasmog ( talk) 14:20, 23 June 2012 (UTC)
Hello, I am writing to you about a concern a Wikipedia article about Alan Turing that mentions the name, Asperger's Syndrome, which is the name of a neurological disorder.
I have an interest in Asperger Syndrome (also called Asperger's Syndrome) and I have privately and deeply researched the syndrome some symptoms of Asperger Syndrome include narrow focus and narrow performance and deficits in imitations of others movements and emotions as well as gestures. Alan Turing did not have those deficits so therefore Alan Turing did not have Asperger's Syndrome for a good diagnosis.
The Wikipedia article about Alan Turing says that he showed many of the characteristics that are indicative of Asperger Syndrome which I see is false and misleading and it should not be on any website especially a major website such as Wikipedia. The article is about Alan Turing and not Asperger syndrome and the name Asperger's Syndrome should not be in that article.
For the above reasons, could you get rid of the sentence in the Wikipedia article that says Alan Turing showed many of the characteristics that are indicative of Asperger's Syndrome? Thank you.( 121.45.231.207 ( talk) 15:28, 23 June 2012 (UTC))
From Daniel Maynard
Does anyone else see a remarkable bit of similarity in this New York Times editorial to the lead of this article? ( Our article last week, for comparison). NW ( Talk) 03:40, 24 June 2012 (UTC)
Some editors prefer "was a British mathematician..." while others like "was an English mathematician...". The latter was just restored with summary "restore original word. Nationality listed in info box". Having the lead and the infobox agree would be sensible, but the article now says "English", and the infobox says "British". I have seen these nationality wars in other articles—is there a guideline or consensus somewhere to decide this? Johnuniq ( talk) 11:38, 24 June 2012 (UTC)
Wiki best practice demands the country of birth in biography articles, Turing was English with British nationality, I have updated the article to read so. Twobells ( talk) 12:43, 30 June 2012 (UTC)
"He was highly influential in the development of computer science, providing a formalisation of the concepts of "algorithm" and "computation" with the Turing machine, which played a significant role in the creation of the modern computer."
The Turing machine was just an abstract model with little influence on the creation of the computer; neither Konrad Zuse nor ENIAC/EDVAC's creators were aware of Turing's work:
"Zuse completed his work entirely independently of other leading computer scientists and mathematicians of his day. Between 1936 and 1945, he was in near-total intellectual isolation."
"Independently, J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly, who were developing the ENIAC at the Moore School of Electrical Engineering, at the University of Pennsylvania, wrote about the stored-program concept in December 1943.[8][9] In planning a new machine, EDVAC, Eckert wrote in January 1944 that they would store data and programs in a new addressable memory device, a mercury metal delay line memory. This was the first time the construction of a practical stored-program machine was proposed. At that time, he and Mauchly were not aware of Turing's work."
Noczesc ( talk) 11:39, 24 June 2012 (UTC)
The material is referenced. As for an example, "Thanks to Turing, the Colossus machine was one of the world's earliest programmable electronic digital computers. Today Turing's computer designs, as he described them in his day, are still what computer specialists utilize". - The 100 Greatest Inventions of All Time, by Tom Philbin, Citadel Press, New York, 2003. Mitchell NZ ( talk) 23:12, 7 August 2012 (UTC)
I have just posted a reference (which backs up references already there) that contradicts your comment. Btw there was no definitive "first" computer.. there was a series of early computers, and "Thanks to Turing, the Colossus machine was one of the world's earliest programmable electronic digital computers." Mitchell NZ ( talk) 23:40, 7 August 2012 (UTC)
Alan Turing was, in a phrase, the founder of computer science. These are the words of his biographer, Alan Hodges. (See: Hodges, Andrew (2002), Alan Turing — a Cambridge Scientific Mind) Arguing "firsts" in computing is a rather sterile activity. By the time machines were being built that have most of the characteristics of modern computers, both the papers by Turing and Von Neumann et al. were in the public domain and known to those who built the machines. Von Neumann acknowledged that Turing's ideas had influenced him. I suggest removing the contentious phrase and substituting something about Turing being widely accepted as the father of computer science. -- TedColes ( talk) 16:30, 7 August 2012 (UTC)
I have read the whole article and one of Turing's thoughts caught my attention. He was utterly convinced machines had the ability to think by themselves. If we analyse this statement deeply today, it may does not make any sense because of our development at computability and informatics which proves machines are subordinated to us. However, what did impulse him to believe that? Either real or not, what is certain is that belief was produced by something or someone that made him think that and influenced during his life so as to establish his first own ideas about what informatics will be in the future. Focusing on this statement, he was used to work with the binnary code, using his knowledge to work out the secret messages of the machine Enigma while the Second World War was happening. Some sources said he started thinking machines can truly think while that moment. So perhaps that idea came when he was using that code. Related to this, when someone says a machine can think by themselves, it means something made him believe that. According to his childhood, he was supposed to overcome the worst tragedies he had and once achieved the adulthood he had to get through his friend's death. This make him stronger than before and set his way, the way of the primary informatics. After being punished for his homosexuality by the British government and being refused by the majority of the traditional people who rejected homosexuals, he used to feel alone, without any close friend. At that moment, he was suffering the conviction he accepted (an hormonal treatment), trying to overcome that difficult time. It would be logical to think that while all of this was happening, he tried to invent a stuff like a friend, using his knowledge in computability and the binnary code, what is usually said a digital friend. He spent his adulthood studying why a specific animal had spots or stripes and another with the same colorcast had different ones, and he reflected this on his book The chemical basis of the morphogenesis. Why did such a mathematic as him want to study that? That's because spots on animals are closely related to maths. But it is possible that he was attracted to this due to his need to talk to someone as well, he could use his knowledge at this topic to modify the appearance of an animal and introduce the data in the ancient computer. If we think this deeply, it could be the beginning of "Tamagochi", where one has a pet and must keep it alive by giving food and teaching what is good or bad. This topic could stop here, but according to that idea he always had in mind, "I think machines can think by themselves", it is not so weird to think he went furhter and tried to make up a new digital animal which could be very similar to what we know today as digital monster. This digital monster would have a digital world to live inside the computer made by data, but it was not possible to talk each other because there was no way to do that. Related to this, we know he worked close to Norbert Wiener in the development of the cybernetics, which is usually defined to establish a system of communication between man and machine as a basic premise. So perhaps, Alan used his knowledge at this science to set a digital connection between him and the monster, giving way to a digital device which could be named digital device. With cybernetics, he also questioned the limits of simulation of human reasoning, and he could use this to implement his own digital animal to evolve it to higher ranks physically and psychologically, which could be likely named digital evolution. It is not totally demonstrated he had such a digital friend with whom he could spend his time of loneliness, but we know the net is kind of infinite and there is no reason to believe there was not like a world in the net where these digital monsters could live in connection with real world by any kind of way. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Supersmash8 ( talk • contribs) 09:53, 28 June 2012 (UTC)
Currently the article reads:
He accepted chemical castration via injections of stilboestrol, a synthetic oestrogen hormone;[81] this treatment was continued for the course of one year.[82] The side-effects of the treatment rendered Turing impotent
Can impotence really be regarded as a side-effect of chemical castration? Ordinary Person ( talk) 16:15, 9 September 2012 (UTC)
This section starts: "Turing was conceived...". I have always been a bit puzzled by this. Most articles don't say where someone was conceived. Is there some significance that I have missed? Southdevonian ( talk) 08:26, 13 September 2012 (UTC)
An editor inserted some text about the Rainbow Festival in Madurai, India, in the Centenary celebrations section. However the event does not seem to have really included anything about Alan Turing's life and work, other than simply borrowing his name. This is more of a tribute than a celebration, so I have moved it to the Tributes section. I have also cut it down as the text was promoting a particular event rather than improving the article. On the other hand it is nice to have something from India, a country which had an influence on Turing's life, even though he never went there. I also found a source, as the one with the text had been incorrectly formatted and didn't work. Southdevonian ( talk) 04:37, 8 October 2012 (UTC)
I like this article but I am a bit surprised that there is no mention of the letter to Churchill (Hodges pp 219-221). I think this is important. It meant that substantial resources were diverted to code-breaking. We now know that code-breaking made a big contribution to the eventual success of the British war effort but up to that time the British strategists had been starving it and ignoring its results. This letter's effect in changing strategy and turning the balance of the warring powers is hard to measure but it must be substantial and could even have been decisive. It also shows Turing as a man with strategic vision and passion, not just a "brain". He may have been a poor administrator and no politician but at that moment he really was a leader.
Is there any support for a section on this topic? Budhen ( talk) 18:18, 12 October 2012 (UTC)
The Enigma message doesn't seem to read "Founder of Computer Science". Enigma is incapable of enciphering a letter as itself. The 14th letter in plaintext and enciphered are both U. I wonder what it really says or if someone made a mistake with the letter groups. I suppose it could be the phrase translated into German and then encoded. Assuming that's also 24 letters it would be very appropriate. I tried to make one fit below padding with x's operators sometimes used but not sure if that is correct in German.
Skywayman ( talk) 16:01, 30 December 2012 (UTC)
Please do not change British spelling and dates to American spelling and dates. You risk having all of your class's edits reverted. We use British spelling in this article. Do not change -ise to -ize or -our to -or, etc. See WP:ENGVAR for the policy on this. Yworo ( talk) 03:28, 5 February 2013 (UTC)
I have reworded the bit about the relationship, keeping in the bit about a few weeks as someone wanted to stress it wasn't a long-term relationship. Firstly meeting at a cinema is ambiguous - is that where they first saw each other, or did they arrange to go to a film together? "Lunch-date" sounds odd. Anyway that is just what you do when you have a relationship - cinema, meals, going to someone's house - it isn't encyclopeadic. The only significance here is because it led to a court case. I think it is enough to say they started a relationship... there was a burglary, etc. I was wondering if we should even name Murray. Thoughts, anyone? Southdevonian ( talk) 12:40, 5 February 2013 (UTC)
Actually I have just refreshed my memory in Hodges and it appears Arnold Murray gave quite an extensive interview to the author. Presumably that is where all the info about the relationship came from. Alan approached him in Oxford Street about Christmas, they had lunch together, etc. Burglary on 23rd January. I will put back some of the stuff I took out. Southdevonian ( talk) 18:16, 5 February 2013 (UTC)
"The logo of Apple Computer is often erroneously referred to as a tribute to Alan Turing" is too contentious, and needs to be balanced by the point of fact that since many people consider it a tribute (reaching Urban legend status [6]), it defacto is. even ify that was never the original intention. Something like "The logo of Apple Computer is considered a tribute to Alan Turing this was not the original intention ..." would reflect the real situation more accurately. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.65.59.201 ( talk) 17:50, 9 May 2013 (UTC)
There is "On 26 July 2012, a bill was introduced in the House of Lords to give a statutory pardon to Turing for offences under section 11 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885 of which he was convicted on 31 March 1952", sourced to http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2012-13/alanturingstatutorypardon.html This bill apparently failed, since another bill has been introduced to the Lords with precisely the same purpose, see http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2013-14/alanturingstatutorypardon.html -- Redrose64 ( talk) 09:12, 11 May 2013 (UTC)
Someone keeps changing his status from English to 'British', it is best wiki practice to lay out the description by country then nationality, examples [2] [3]
References
"Aggressive" is a strong and disparaging word. Is there more evidence for this paragraph than the single citation from a journalist? TedColes ( talk) 21:43, 4 August 2013 (UTC)
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Is it possible that this photo: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flowers_on_Alan_Turing%27s_Memorial,_as_an_early_part_of_the_flowers_for_Turing_Project..jpg might be added to the page? I took the photo (and wrote the page at http://joereddington.com/flowers-for-turing/ giving the circumstances... ) so It would be a bit of a COI if I put it in... I think it is a nice illustration of the place that Turing holds in people's hearts so many years later..
(Tried making this request on the memorial page but it looks like there isn't much traffic on that talk page...)
Joe
I had thought that it was quite well known or 'widely believed' that Alan Turing had suffered from some kind of mild schizophrenia, but on looking through this article and even the talk page and its archives I can find no mention of it anywhere. I have also hunted on Google briefly and didn't get very far. Am I chasing down some spurious reference in a old documentary or is this a piece of history that has been 'revised' in the name of political correctness?
Anyone with any info?, I had thought this was an important part of his life and was once cited as a potential reason for his suicide. Maybe someone has made the mistake of conflating schizophrenia = mental illness with homosexuality = mental illness - the two were definitely not the same thing.
Lucien86 (
talk) 06:41, 28 November 2013 (UTC)
Alan Turing is the uncle of the present twelfth Turing baronet, Sir (John) Dermot Turing. Alan was the brother of the eleventh baron, Sir John Leslie Turing, Dermot's father.[ref: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/newsnight/susanwatts/2009/09/more_from_turings_relatives.html] The article is rather vague about Turing's aristocratic background, saying the family 'included a baronet'. Wouldn't it be better to state his close relationship to the baronetcy more clearly? ie Turing was from a posher immediate background, rather than having some third uncle ten times removed who was a baronet? 62.7.177.190 ( talk) 11:04, 24 December 2013 (UTC)
The article says that his passport was never revoked. Why should it be? Although this is common practice in the US, my understanding is that passports are never revoked in the UK, although there may be temporary requests to surrender a passport as a condition of bail or similar Jimfbleak - talk to me? 06:47, 31 December 2013 (UTC)
The lead paragraph went into quite a lot of detail about the process of pardoning Turing, and this is not what the lead is for. That level of detail belongs in the relevant section of the article. I have edited it down a bit. Richard75 ( talk) 13:34, 28 January 2014 (UTC)
Well, I think I'll dare to say that this is a common thought that is not actually true... To disarm this fallacy, we have to talk about Mr. Leonardo Torres Quevedo, a Spanish engineer of the late 19th century and early 20th century. If we read and study about his theoretical contributions and inventions, we'll see that he wrote the first essay on automation when that word didn't even exist, in the decade of 1910. He built various algebraic computing machines, solving with them math problems that were unsolvable till then. As an example of automata, we have his "Ajedrecista", a mechanical machine that can play chess and give check mate to a king with a tower and a king. He indeed built the first computer in history, the "Aritmómetro Electromecánico" (Electromechanical Arithmometer). This machine used a typewriter as an input/output device and could be programmed to make calculations. For more information, you can read his writing or make a research on the internet (most of the info about him is in spanish and french). He was also prolific in many other engineering fields but this is not the issue here. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.37.228.104 ( talk) 01:20, 16 November 2012 (UTC)
In his essay on artificial intelligence where he posits the famous Turing test (I don't have it to hand, but I'm sure of this) Turing affirms his belief in telepathy. Can we put this in in the passage about his religious/nonreligious beliefs and views on life after death? I don't want to do it now as I don't have the source for reference, but anyone who does can check that I'm right. 89.100.155.6 ( talk) 20:38, 18 May 2014 (UTC)
"Turing would go on to be honoured by the British state. In a supplement dated Tuesday 18 June 1946, Gazette number 37617 reports that Alan Mathison Turing Esq ‘employed in a Department of the Foreign Office’ is to be promoted to become an officer of the civil division of the British Empire."
issue 37617, page 3124 of the London Gazette
Xb2u7Zjzc32 (
talk) 22:42, 16 June 2014 (UTC)
![]() | This is an archive of past discussions. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page. |
Archive 1 | Archive 2 | Archive 3 | Archive 4 | Archive 5 |
Since Alan Turing held an earned PhD from Princeton University, as is explicitly detailed in the later section "University and work on computability," and since it is customary to note that degree after the holder's name, I think it should be added to the first sentence. I would do it myself, except that I don't know whether it should precede or follow the notations of his British honors. Dick Kimball ( talk) 12:38, 28 May 2010 (UTC)
Is there any stronger evidence for Snow White having been Turing's "favorite fairy tale"?
Did the cited author -- Timothy Ferris -- know Turing or have a source who did?
The language of his book's one Turing reference doesn't seem to imply as much.
-- Bcjordan ( talk) 19:17, 11 November 2009 (UTC)
The following has been added to "In Culture"
"Turing appears as a character in the 1999 novel Cryptonomicon by American writer Neal Stephenson. The bestselling book is a fictional account of codebreaking during World War II along with related plot developments. The text includes references to Turing's homosexuality."
It reads OK to me. It shows that Turing has become a significant character in modern times. It links to another Wikipedia article. Can't see a problem with it. HiLo48 ( talk) 01:10, 7 January 2010 (UTC)
Yeah Its Fine. It shows even though he was a homosexual he was a great mathematician. 10:54, 22 January 2010 (CMS) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.153.118.208 ( talk)
Does anyone object to me setting up automatic archiving for this page using MiszaBot? Unless otherwise agreed, I would set it to archive threads that have been inactive for 30 days and keep ten threads.-- Oneiros ( talk) 23:07, 24 January 2010 (UTC)
I've just flagged the "In Culture" as trivia, needing attention, for two reasons. Firstly, sections are heavily deprecated with the current policy to incorporate information where appropriate rather than just drop in random facts. Secondly, while the sentence linking Turing with the Apple logo has been refuted, I would have thought the better approach would be to delete the wrong urban rumour. After all, this is an article about Turing, not Apple. However, I'm new to this article so am not WP:BOLD enough just to zap it without canvassing opinion here first. Etrigan ( talk) 00:42, 25 January 2010 (UTC)
Done
Etrigan (
talk) 11:00, 29 January 2010 (UTC)
Editors on the (o)estrogen war need to go review all of WP:ENGVAR, WP:TIES and WP:RETAIN and after so doing, leave the british spelling alone please! Etrigan ( talk) 18:56, 14 February 2010 (UTC)
Jeez, people. Take a break. We're talking about something, lay off the article until the talk settles. Get over yourselves! It doesn't acutally matter which way the article is. Etrigan ( talk) 23:19, 15 February 2010 (UTC)
Some parts of this article lack substantiation and may misrepresent Turing's contributions.
For example, the section titled "University and work on computability" contains the statement "Turing machines are to this day the central object of study in theory of computation." While Turing machines are certainly studied, I am not sure they are "the central object of study." The decision problem was solved separately by Chuch, Goedel, and Turing, who respectively proposed the lambda calculus, recursive functions, and Turing machines. The Zentralbatt MATH online database is the single most comprehensive index of mathematical work so it can be used to assess the claim. The all-time count of papers about these three subjects (lamda calculus, recursive functions, and Turing machines) are 3498, 3204, and 1591, respectively. Thus it would seem Chuch's lambda calculus is a more "central" object of study.
I am not saying that Turing's contributions are exaggerated, rather that some care is needed to explain them lest unsubstantiated claims are made that only serve to lesson Turing's reputation. Jfgrcar ( talk) 20:21, 17 February 2010 (UTC)
RG Kightley comments: there is no mention here of Turing constructing the Collosus Computer with Tommy Flowers. Built using radio transistor valves it was the precursor of modern computers. The USA was given one of the computers in order to aid the war effort. Many U.S.A. patents assumed ownership of the British technology. It has been necessary to minimise the contribution of Turing as a result. If Mr. Turing were alive today ,no doubt he would be being sued by Oracle and Microsoft for breach of patent, as these companies have assumed ownership of Operating Systems in order to control the world market. 86.9.13.234 ( talk) 12:27, 17 March 2011 (UTC)
The caption for the photo says that the Bombe replica is "Complete and working".
Although this is true today, in the photo it is still under construction, with only two reels installed. -- Mwongozi ( talk) 12:27, 23 June 2010 (UTC)
Turing does not appear in the page for Category "Computer pioneers", though this article is tagged with that category. Is there something wrong with the format of that section or some bug in wikipedia? -- Ericjs ( talk) 22:50, 23 November 2010 (UTC)
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Could someone clarify why the category Athletes who committed suicide is relevant? The article makes no mention of Turing being recognized as an athlete apart from his cycling. Not everyone who enjoys going for a run is a professional athlete. Fæ ( talk) 10:59, 1 July 2011 (UTC)
Footnote #76 points to a UK govt website that apparently once carried a copy of Gordon Brown's apology for its treatment of Alan Turing.
http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page20571
The link no longer works, removed, I presume, by the present government, which is run by conservatives who may approve of the way Turing was treated. Rather than deleting the link, I suggest that it be left as is, with a comment added about the apparent suppression of the apology by the present government. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Rexpage ( talk • contribs) 16:09, 4 September 2011 (UTC)
The link currently being used for the Prime Minister's apology does not actually contain the text of the apology. It is just an article -about- the apology. Would not this link be a better fit? It contains the full text of Gordon Brown's letter. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/gordon-brown/6170112/Gordon-Brown-Im-proud-to-say-sorry-to-a-real-war-hero.html — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.111.198.79 ( talk) 06:17, 11 October 2011 (UTC)
The apology is at http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20091003064609/http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page20571 It didn't take very long to find. Mr Stephen ( talk) 06:56, 11 October 2011 (UTC)
http://www.i-programmer.info/news/82-heritage/3735-widespread-celebrations-but-no-pardon-for-turing.html — Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.69.247.2 ( talk) 23:05, 6 February 2012 (UTC)
I just read this statement from the article:
While Turing's proof was published subsequent to Alonzo Church's equivalent proof in respect to his lambda calculus, he was unaware of Church's work at the time.
But the paper in question, On Computable Numbers, With an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem, specifically refers to Church's work:
In a recent paper Alonzo Church† has introduced an idea of "effective calculability", which is equivalent to my "computability", but is very differently defined. Church also reaches similar conclusions about the Entscheidungsproblem††.
- † Alonzo Church, "An unsolvable problem of elementary number theory", American J. of Math., 58 (1936), 345-363.
- †† Alonzo Church, "A note on the Entscheidungsproblem", J. of Symbolic Logic, 1 (1936), 40-41.
It seems as though Turing was aware of Church's proof. Am I misreading the Wikipedia article? I have put a dubious tag on there, because I'm not 100% sure that this is the proof he was talking about. — MattGiuca ( talk) 06:57, 8 February 2012 (UTC)
Check out this -- something about Turing's hypothesis about patterns such as tiger stripes being proved.-- Tomwsulcer ( talk) 03:10, 21 February 2012 (UTC)
Is this still in existence? -- TedColes ( talk) 14:46, 25 April 2012 (UTC)
I have reverted a good faith edit to the lead. An anonymous editor at 204.86.64.67 moved the following sentence from the first paragraph of the lead to the section on Childhood and youth. "He showed many of the characteristics that are indicative of Asperger syndrome.[5]" Given that Asperger did not describe his syndrome until 1944 and the paper at reference [5] was published in 2003, the lead seems to me to be a much more appropriate place. What do others think?
The same editor removed completely the following. "He was stockily built, had a high-pitched voice, and was talkative, witty, and somewhat donnish.[4]" This was taken from a recent newspaper article by the novelist Alan Garner. Again, what do others think?
-- TedColes ( talk) 17:30, 6 February 2012 (UTC)
User:Trivialist removed the reference to the fact that Turing, in the view of of two psychiatrists published in a peer-revied journal, showed clear evidence of some of the main diagnostic features of Asberger's syndrome. I have restored this information as it seems to me to reveal an important aspect of his character. -- TedColes ( talk) 11:55, 15 April 2012 (UTC)
It examines the following criteria:He was regarded as being socially aloof and eccentric by colleagues and friends. He was interested in mathematics, chemistry and logic from an early age, to the exclusion of other activities. This paper attempts to establish whether he fulfilled the criteria for Asperger's syndrome.
I find this quite clear and very useful in helping to understand some of Turing's unusual behaviour.-- TedColes ( talk) 08:00, 2 June 2012 (UTC)This paper has set out to explore the evidence for Asperger's syndrome in Alan Turing. According to his biography and contemporary accounts of him, he certainly met Gilberg's criteria, ICD-10 criteria and DSM-IV criteria for Asperger's syndrome.
At the beginning of the Conviction for indecency section there is a quote (one of the longest in the article) from a book by Anthony Cave Brown, which is about someone else but has a couple of pages about Turing. The quote refers to Turing as an "agressive homosexual" and says he was suspected of molesting schoolboys in Luton Library. In the book Cave Brown does not give any source for these statements, although the book does have references. The Guardian obituary for Cave Brown does not speak highly of his accuracy, and I can't see anything else in the article to support either of these statements. Turing was convicted of something that is no longer criminal (sex with consenting adult) but in this quote he is being suspected of something that is still very much criminal (if the boys were underage or unwilling) so I wondered if it really belongs here. Does anyone know of any other source that would support or contradict what Cave Brown says? Cave Brown goes on to say that this was why Turing was transferred to Hanslope Park - has anyone got another explanation for his transfer? Southdevonian ( talk) 17:57, 2 June 2012 (UTC)
So the explanation for the move to Hanslope seems unlikely. I have removed the quote as it appears to be (in the original book) malicious gossip without a source. Anyway it is not so well-written that it deserves to go in as a long quote. Southdevonian ( talk) 11:23, 3 June 2012 (UTC)
It's unlikely he was a pedophile given that he was exclusively homosexual. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 109.155.125.116 ( talk) 20:21, 14 June 2012 (UTC)
"The petition has over 34,000 signatures, but the request was declined by Lord McNally" This is a bit misleading: it has ~34 000 signatures NOW but when Lord McNally declined it, it had 21 000] as stated in previous revisions.-- Kyng ( talk) 13:57, 14 June 2012 (UTC)
Does this require a little more explanation than just a link to the image of one of the postcards in Turing archive? Chosen when? and by whom? and to what end? Thanks. Martinevans123 ( talk) 22:39, 21 June 2012 (UTC)
Wibblywobblybibblybobbly ( talk) 08:43, 22 June 2012 (UTC) RE: Turing's supposed 'Epitaph'. Do any authorities state that this is indeed Turing's epitaph, or is it only in the Wikipedia entry because the person who put it there feels that it would be appropriate as one? Turing sent this poem in a letter; there is no indication in the Turing Digital Archive that it was used, or intended to be used, as an epitaph. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography states that Turing was cremated, and as there does not appear to be a grave, there can be no epitaph in the strict sense of the word. The memorial plaque in Sackville Park does not feature the poem.
As I've just heard on the news that it's the centenary of Turing's birth tomorrow I've made a proposal here that he be included in "on this day" for the 23rd , although it may be too late. Richerman (talk) 14:15, 22 June 2012 (UTC)
I have removed this sentence because no-one provided a source "In his memoirs Turing wrote that he was disappointed about the reception of this 1936 paper, which also introduced the notion of definable numbers, and that only two people had reacted – these being Heinrich Scholz and Richard Bevan Braithwaite. citation needed" Did Turing even write his memoirs? I have a feeling not. Southdevonian ( talk) 22:15, 22 June 2012 (UTC)
Turing Lecture 2008 at Bletchley Park
Bletchley Park is holding the annual Turing Lecture 2008 on Thursday, 10th July. Dr Andrew Hodges, tutor in Mathematics and Fellow of Wadham College, University of Oxford, will discuss some of the unresolved issues that have come to the forefront, as historians of science strive to understand the development of Turing’s thought.
Also, on June 22, 2012, on what would have been his 100th birthday he was honored on Google's famous "Google Doodle". — Preceding unsigned comment added by SRB9586 ( talk • contribs) 04:59, 23 June 2012 (UTC)
In the above section it says "After Murray helped an accomplice to break into his house, Turing reported the crime to the police" Whose house did the accomplice break into - Murray's or Turing's? Richerman (talk) 23:16, 22 June 2012 (UTC)
Wasn't his birthday on the 22nd June 1912? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.210.187.95 ( talk) 00:03, 23 June 2012 (UTC)
User:Lewallen has deleted some substantial, verifiable information about Turing's personal characteristics, saying "(I removed the description of Turing's physical attributes ("stockily built") style ("talkative and witty") and potential Aspergers from the first paragraph. Similar entries on other people do not include such information in the opening)". It seems to me that these details help readers to understand better an important and somewhat puzzling person, so I am going to restore this information pending a consensus here that it should be removed. -- TedColes ( talk) 14:33, 8 May 2012 (UTC)
There is derogatory and very offensive comment at the top of the article about his homosexuality which seems to have escaped being edited out by wiki editors. The man deserves respect. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.67.71.19 ( talk) 03:39, 23 June 2012 (UTC)
Hi, I just think it's informative to complement about the doodle with the binary code used for the letters on the doodle, known as Baudot code: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baudot_code. An International telegraphy alphabet. Currently I have no rights to do that.
The article says:
Hodges and David Leavitt have suggested that Turing was re-enacting a scene from the 1937 film Snow White, his favourite fairy tale, both noting that (in Leavitt's words) he took "an especially keen pleasure in the scene where the Wicked Queen immerses her apple in the poisonous brew."
David Leavitt is an american novelist born in 1961, who obviously never knew Turing personally. What are the evidences that Alan Turing took "an especially keen pleasure" reenacting the scene from Snow White? This affirmation looks ridiculous, gratuitous and a stereotype about homosexual men.
In the article about Leavitt it is said that "Leavitt, who is openly gay,[2] has frequently explored gay issues in his work.[1]". My guess is that he is projecting his own thoughts onto Alan Turing. How serious and reliable is Leavitt's biography of Turing?--
89.226.117.72 (
talk) 10:00, 23 June 2012 (UTC)
Just came across an article arguing that today, a coroner would not have had sufficient evidence to rule Turing's death a suicide. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18561092 Can this be added to the article? 68.115.35.110 ( talk) 11:01, 23 June 2012 (UTC)
He was murdered. The court ruling pronounced that he committed suicide but in all actuality it's not logical. The lethal dose of potassium or sodium cyanide is 200 to 300 mg and of hydrocyanic acid is 50 mg. Effects begin within seconds of inhalation and within 30 min of ingestion. General weakness, confusion, bizarre behavior, excessive sleepiness, coma, shortness of breath, headache, dizziness, and seizures can all present with cyanide poisoning. Typically, an acute ingestion will have a dramatic, rapid onset, immediately affecting the heart and causing sudden collapse. It can also immediately affect the brain and cause a seizure or coma.
Apple seeds to contain traces amounts of cyanide but not enough for a lethal dose even with constant exposure. A theory is that his apple was injected with the lethal amount of cyanide. As Alan ingested the apple he began to feel the initial effects of poison. In this case, he would have set the apple down and within 30 minutes or less he would be pronounced deceased.
The murderer of Alan Turing would have these key features as follows: 1) Possessed knowledge of Alan's habit of eating apples before rest. 2) Access to Alan's room. 3) Access to Alan's apples 4) Knowledge and access to cyanide and syringes {Most likely found within Alan's Laboratory and chemical cache.} 5) Knowledge of Alan's schedule both daily and nightly events.
Some may consider Alan Turing's housekeeper as a possible suspect but who's to say that the murderer didn't already plan in advance. The housekeeper was likely to find Alan's body within a 24 to 48 hour period of death due to Alan's absence from his duties. This would add another key feature, the schedule of the housekeeper.
An alternate theory would be inhalation of cyanide. In order for that to happen, one would have to have prior knowledge of the tiny room and access to the device that Alan used to dissolve gold. If so that apparatus contained a gaseous form potassium cyanide, as the housekeeper walked in she would immediately feel the effects. Alan Turing would know the safety precautions of his equipment and not be a procrastinator with gold.
A question arises, "Would you kill yourself when you know how to melt, dissolve, and reform your own gold?" User-Fylnn ( talk) 05:58, 24 June 2012 (UTC)
This suicide is indeed questionable. User-Fylnn ( talk) 05:58, 24 June 2012 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by User-Fylnn ( talk • contribs) 05:55, 24 June 2012 (UTC)
See also "Did Alan Turing really commit suicide?" at http://www.osnews.com/story/26114/Did_Alan_Turing_really_commit_suicide_ -- Nevarine 07:57, 26 giu 2012 (CEST) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 151.77.164.234 ( talk)
In the section about Tributes by Universities, I think should be introduced also the following:
Frasmog ( talk) 14:20, 23 June 2012 (UTC)
Hello, I am writing to you about a concern a Wikipedia article about Alan Turing that mentions the name, Asperger's Syndrome, which is the name of a neurological disorder.
I have an interest in Asperger Syndrome (also called Asperger's Syndrome) and I have privately and deeply researched the syndrome some symptoms of Asperger Syndrome include narrow focus and narrow performance and deficits in imitations of others movements and emotions as well as gestures. Alan Turing did not have those deficits so therefore Alan Turing did not have Asperger's Syndrome for a good diagnosis.
The Wikipedia article about Alan Turing says that he showed many of the characteristics that are indicative of Asperger Syndrome which I see is false and misleading and it should not be on any website especially a major website such as Wikipedia. The article is about Alan Turing and not Asperger syndrome and the name Asperger's Syndrome should not be in that article.
For the above reasons, could you get rid of the sentence in the Wikipedia article that says Alan Turing showed many of the characteristics that are indicative of Asperger's Syndrome? Thank you.( 121.45.231.207 ( talk) 15:28, 23 June 2012 (UTC))
From Daniel Maynard
Does anyone else see a remarkable bit of similarity in this New York Times editorial to the lead of this article? ( Our article last week, for comparison). NW ( Talk) 03:40, 24 June 2012 (UTC)
Some editors prefer "was a British mathematician..." while others like "was an English mathematician...". The latter was just restored with summary "restore original word. Nationality listed in info box". Having the lead and the infobox agree would be sensible, but the article now says "English", and the infobox says "British". I have seen these nationality wars in other articles—is there a guideline or consensus somewhere to decide this? Johnuniq ( talk) 11:38, 24 June 2012 (UTC)
Wiki best practice demands the country of birth in biography articles, Turing was English with British nationality, I have updated the article to read so. Twobells ( talk) 12:43, 30 June 2012 (UTC)
"He was highly influential in the development of computer science, providing a formalisation of the concepts of "algorithm" and "computation" with the Turing machine, which played a significant role in the creation of the modern computer."
The Turing machine was just an abstract model with little influence on the creation of the computer; neither Konrad Zuse nor ENIAC/EDVAC's creators were aware of Turing's work:
"Zuse completed his work entirely independently of other leading computer scientists and mathematicians of his day. Between 1936 and 1945, he was in near-total intellectual isolation."
"Independently, J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly, who were developing the ENIAC at the Moore School of Electrical Engineering, at the University of Pennsylvania, wrote about the stored-program concept in December 1943.[8][9] In planning a new machine, EDVAC, Eckert wrote in January 1944 that they would store data and programs in a new addressable memory device, a mercury metal delay line memory. This was the first time the construction of a practical stored-program machine was proposed. At that time, he and Mauchly were not aware of Turing's work."
Noczesc ( talk) 11:39, 24 June 2012 (UTC)
The material is referenced. As for an example, "Thanks to Turing, the Colossus machine was one of the world's earliest programmable electronic digital computers. Today Turing's computer designs, as he described them in his day, are still what computer specialists utilize". - The 100 Greatest Inventions of All Time, by Tom Philbin, Citadel Press, New York, 2003. Mitchell NZ ( talk) 23:12, 7 August 2012 (UTC)
I have just posted a reference (which backs up references already there) that contradicts your comment. Btw there was no definitive "first" computer.. there was a series of early computers, and "Thanks to Turing, the Colossus machine was one of the world's earliest programmable electronic digital computers." Mitchell NZ ( talk) 23:40, 7 August 2012 (UTC)
Alan Turing was, in a phrase, the founder of computer science. These are the words of his biographer, Alan Hodges. (See: Hodges, Andrew (2002), Alan Turing — a Cambridge Scientific Mind) Arguing "firsts" in computing is a rather sterile activity. By the time machines were being built that have most of the characteristics of modern computers, both the papers by Turing and Von Neumann et al. were in the public domain and known to those who built the machines. Von Neumann acknowledged that Turing's ideas had influenced him. I suggest removing the contentious phrase and substituting something about Turing being widely accepted as the father of computer science. -- TedColes ( talk) 16:30, 7 August 2012 (UTC)
I have read the whole article and one of Turing's thoughts caught my attention. He was utterly convinced machines had the ability to think by themselves. If we analyse this statement deeply today, it may does not make any sense because of our development at computability and informatics which proves machines are subordinated to us. However, what did impulse him to believe that? Either real or not, what is certain is that belief was produced by something or someone that made him think that and influenced during his life so as to establish his first own ideas about what informatics will be in the future. Focusing on this statement, he was used to work with the binnary code, using his knowledge to work out the secret messages of the machine Enigma while the Second World War was happening. Some sources said he started thinking machines can truly think while that moment. So perhaps that idea came when he was using that code. Related to this, when someone says a machine can think by themselves, it means something made him believe that. According to his childhood, he was supposed to overcome the worst tragedies he had and once achieved the adulthood he had to get through his friend's death. This make him stronger than before and set his way, the way of the primary informatics. After being punished for his homosexuality by the British government and being refused by the majority of the traditional people who rejected homosexuals, he used to feel alone, without any close friend. At that moment, he was suffering the conviction he accepted (an hormonal treatment), trying to overcome that difficult time. It would be logical to think that while all of this was happening, he tried to invent a stuff like a friend, using his knowledge in computability and the binnary code, what is usually said a digital friend. He spent his adulthood studying why a specific animal had spots or stripes and another with the same colorcast had different ones, and he reflected this on his book The chemical basis of the morphogenesis. Why did such a mathematic as him want to study that? That's because spots on animals are closely related to maths. But it is possible that he was attracted to this due to his need to talk to someone as well, he could use his knowledge at this topic to modify the appearance of an animal and introduce the data in the ancient computer. If we think this deeply, it could be the beginning of "Tamagochi", where one has a pet and must keep it alive by giving food and teaching what is good or bad. This topic could stop here, but according to that idea he always had in mind, "I think machines can think by themselves", it is not so weird to think he went furhter and tried to make up a new digital animal which could be very similar to what we know today as digital monster. This digital monster would have a digital world to live inside the computer made by data, but it was not possible to talk each other because there was no way to do that. Related to this, we know he worked close to Norbert Wiener in the development of the cybernetics, which is usually defined to establish a system of communication between man and machine as a basic premise. So perhaps, Alan used his knowledge at this science to set a digital connection between him and the monster, giving way to a digital device which could be named digital device. With cybernetics, he also questioned the limits of simulation of human reasoning, and he could use this to implement his own digital animal to evolve it to higher ranks physically and psychologically, which could be likely named digital evolution. It is not totally demonstrated he had such a digital friend with whom he could spend his time of loneliness, but we know the net is kind of infinite and there is no reason to believe there was not like a world in the net where these digital monsters could live in connection with real world by any kind of way. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Supersmash8 ( talk • contribs) 09:53, 28 June 2012 (UTC)
Currently the article reads:
He accepted chemical castration via injections of stilboestrol, a synthetic oestrogen hormone;[81] this treatment was continued for the course of one year.[82] The side-effects of the treatment rendered Turing impotent
Can impotence really be regarded as a side-effect of chemical castration? Ordinary Person ( talk) 16:15, 9 September 2012 (UTC)
This section starts: "Turing was conceived...". I have always been a bit puzzled by this. Most articles don't say where someone was conceived. Is there some significance that I have missed? Southdevonian ( talk) 08:26, 13 September 2012 (UTC)
An editor inserted some text about the Rainbow Festival in Madurai, India, in the Centenary celebrations section. However the event does not seem to have really included anything about Alan Turing's life and work, other than simply borrowing his name. This is more of a tribute than a celebration, so I have moved it to the Tributes section. I have also cut it down as the text was promoting a particular event rather than improving the article. On the other hand it is nice to have something from India, a country which had an influence on Turing's life, even though he never went there. I also found a source, as the one with the text had been incorrectly formatted and didn't work. Southdevonian ( talk) 04:37, 8 October 2012 (UTC)
I like this article but I am a bit surprised that there is no mention of the letter to Churchill (Hodges pp 219-221). I think this is important. It meant that substantial resources were diverted to code-breaking. We now know that code-breaking made a big contribution to the eventual success of the British war effort but up to that time the British strategists had been starving it and ignoring its results. This letter's effect in changing strategy and turning the balance of the warring powers is hard to measure but it must be substantial and could even have been decisive. It also shows Turing as a man with strategic vision and passion, not just a "brain". He may have been a poor administrator and no politician but at that moment he really was a leader.
Is there any support for a section on this topic? Budhen ( talk) 18:18, 12 October 2012 (UTC)
The Enigma message doesn't seem to read "Founder of Computer Science". Enigma is incapable of enciphering a letter as itself. The 14th letter in plaintext and enciphered are both U. I wonder what it really says or if someone made a mistake with the letter groups. I suppose it could be the phrase translated into German and then encoded. Assuming that's also 24 letters it would be very appropriate. I tried to make one fit below padding with x's operators sometimes used but not sure if that is correct in German.
Skywayman ( talk) 16:01, 30 December 2012 (UTC)
Please do not change British spelling and dates to American spelling and dates. You risk having all of your class's edits reverted. We use British spelling in this article. Do not change -ise to -ize or -our to -or, etc. See WP:ENGVAR for the policy on this. Yworo ( talk) 03:28, 5 February 2013 (UTC)
I have reworded the bit about the relationship, keeping in the bit about a few weeks as someone wanted to stress it wasn't a long-term relationship. Firstly meeting at a cinema is ambiguous - is that where they first saw each other, or did they arrange to go to a film together? "Lunch-date" sounds odd. Anyway that is just what you do when you have a relationship - cinema, meals, going to someone's house - it isn't encyclopeadic. The only significance here is because it led to a court case. I think it is enough to say they started a relationship... there was a burglary, etc. I was wondering if we should even name Murray. Thoughts, anyone? Southdevonian ( talk) 12:40, 5 February 2013 (UTC)
Actually I have just refreshed my memory in Hodges and it appears Arnold Murray gave quite an extensive interview to the author. Presumably that is where all the info about the relationship came from. Alan approached him in Oxford Street about Christmas, they had lunch together, etc. Burglary on 23rd January. I will put back some of the stuff I took out. Southdevonian ( talk) 18:16, 5 February 2013 (UTC)
"The logo of Apple Computer is often erroneously referred to as a tribute to Alan Turing" is too contentious, and needs to be balanced by the point of fact that since many people consider it a tribute (reaching Urban legend status [6]), it defacto is. even ify that was never the original intention. Something like "The logo of Apple Computer is considered a tribute to Alan Turing this was not the original intention ..." would reflect the real situation more accurately. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.65.59.201 ( talk) 17:50, 9 May 2013 (UTC)
There is "On 26 July 2012, a bill was introduced in the House of Lords to give a statutory pardon to Turing for offences under section 11 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885 of which he was convicted on 31 March 1952", sourced to http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2012-13/alanturingstatutorypardon.html This bill apparently failed, since another bill has been introduced to the Lords with precisely the same purpose, see http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2013-14/alanturingstatutorypardon.html -- Redrose64 ( talk) 09:12, 11 May 2013 (UTC)
Someone keeps changing his status from English to 'British', it is best wiki practice to lay out the description by country then nationality, examples [2] [3]
References
"Aggressive" is a strong and disparaging word. Is there more evidence for this paragraph than the single citation from a journalist? TedColes ( talk) 21:43, 4 August 2013 (UTC)
![]() | This edit request by an editor with a conflict of interest was declined. |
Is it possible that this photo: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flowers_on_Alan_Turing%27s_Memorial,_as_an_early_part_of_the_flowers_for_Turing_Project..jpg might be added to the page? I took the photo (and wrote the page at http://joereddington.com/flowers-for-turing/ giving the circumstances... ) so It would be a bit of a COI if I put it in... I think it is a nice illustration of the place that Turing holds in people's hearts so many years later..
(Tried making this request on the memorial page but it looks like there isn't much traffic on that talk page...)
Joe
I had thought that it was quite well known or 'widely believed' that Alan Turing had suffered from some kind of mild schizophrenia, but on looking through this article and even the talk page and its archives I can find no mention of it anywhere. I have also hunted on Google briefly and didn't get very far. Am I chasing down some spurious reference in a old documentary or is this a piece of history that has been 'revised' in the name of political correctness?
Anyone with any info?, I had thought this was an important part of his life and was once cited as a potential reason for his suicide. Maybe someone has made the mistake of conflating schizophrenia = mental illness with homosexuality = mental illness - the two were definitely not the same thing.
Lucien86 (
talk) 06:41, 28 November 2013 (UTC)
Alan Turing is the uncle of the present twelfth Turing baronet, Sir (John) Dermot Turing. Alan was the brother of the eleventh baron, Sir John Leslie Turing, Dermot's father.[ref: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/newsnight/susanwatts/2009/09/more_from_turings_relatives.html] The article is rather vague about Turing's aristocratic background, saying the family 'included a baronet'. Wouldn't it be better to state his close relationship to the baronetcy more clearly? ie Turing was from a posher immediate background, rather than having some third uncle ten times removed who was a baronet? 62.7.177.190 ( talk) 11:04, 24 December 2013 (UTC)
The article says that his passport was never revoked. Why should it be? Although this is common practice in the US, my understanding is that passports are never revoked in the UK, although there may be temporary requests to surrender a passport as a condition of bail or similar Jimfbleak - talk to me? 06:47, 31 December 2013 (UTC)
The lead paragraph went into quite a lot of detail about the process of pardoning Turing, and this is not what the lead is for. That level of detail belongs in the relevant section of the article. I have edited it down a bit. Richard75 ( talk) 13:34, 28 January 2014 (UTC)
Well, I think I'll dare to say that this is a common thought that is not actually true... To disarm this fallacy, we have to talk about Mr. Leonardo Torres Quevedo, a Spanish engineer of the late 19th century and early 20th century. If we read and study about his theoretical contributions and inventions, we'll see that he wrote the first essay on automation when that word didn't even exist, in the decade of 1910. He built various algebraic computing machines, solving with them math problems that were unsolvable till then. As an example of automata, we have his "Ajedrecista", a mechanical machine that can play chess and give check mate to a king with a tower and a king. He indeed built the first computer in history, the "Aritmómetro Electromecánico" (Electromechanical Arithmometer). This machine used a typewriter as an input/output device and could be programmed to make calculations. For more information, you can read his writing or make a research on the internet (most of the info about him is in spanish and french). He was also prolific in many other engineering fields but this is not the issue here. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.37.228.104 ( talk) 01:20, 16 November 2012 (UTC)
In his essay on artificial intelligence where he posits the famous Turing test (I don't have it to hand, but I'm sure of this) Turing affirms his belief in telepathy. Can we put this in in the passage about his religious/nonreligious beliefs and views on life after death? I don't want to do it now as I don't have the source for reference, but anyone who does can check that I'm right. 89.100.155.6 ( talk) 20:38, 18 May 2014 (UTC)
"Turing would go on to be honoured by the British state. In a supplement dated Tuesday 18 June 1946, Gazette number 37617 reports that Alan Mathison Turing Esq ‘employed in a Department of the Foreign Office’ is to be promoted to become an officer of the civil division of the British Empire."
issue 37617, page 3124 of the London Gazette
Xb2u7Zjzc32 (
talk) 22:42, 16 June 2014 (UTC)