Last week, while a non-negligible portion of the world population was supporting two teams playing football in Brazil, I had the opportunity to watch the Codebreaker movie directed by Claire Beaven (2014). Quite moving. As a computer scientist, I was early exposed to Alan Turing’s contribution to science in general and computer science in particular. Also, I read several books about his life and what post World War 2 society’s homophobia made him endure. When in the end credits I read the quote of PM Gordon Brown – “So 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.”. I told myself “nice, it was about time”. If you are interested, you can find more on the Royal pardon on the 10 Downing website. If you do not know Alan Turing, I strongly recommend you watch this movie, and/or to listen to a recording of the play Breaking The Code by Hugh Whitemore (1986). For those who know Alan, I would suggest the recent collective book Alan Turing, His Work and Impact published by Elsevier, under the direction of S. Barry Cooper and Jan van Leeuwen. Interestingly, the contributors are sharing with the reader their tribute to Alan, focusing on one of his publications/work. I use the opportunity to pay my tribute too: Thank you, Dr. Turing, for all you did for us, and for the beautiful mind you were.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/royal-pardon-for-ww2-code-breaker-dr-alan-turing
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