Alan Turing

Alan Turing was an English mathematician and pioneer of computer science and one of the key figures in the breaking of the Enigma code, used by the Germans to send secret orders to their U-boats in World War II. Turing was also a private homosexual in Britain at a time when this was illegal, besides being a security risk. In 1954 Alan Turing committed suicide, after being convicted of the criminal offence of homosexual behavior in private. He was offered a choice between two years in prison and a course of hormonal injections which could be said to amount to chemical castration, and would have caused him to grow breasts. His final, private choice was an apple that he had injected with cyanide. 'As the pivotal intellect in the breaking of the German Enigma codes, Turing arguably made a greater contribution to defeating the Nazis than Eisenhower or Churchill. ' (R. D)

A computer would deserve to be called intelligent if it could deceive a human into believing that it was human.
Alan Turing
(Alan Turing's statue in England)