Alan Turing exhibition opens at Bletchley Park {cause you know, we're a threat to civilization}
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2012/03/06/alan-turing-exhibition-opens-at-bletchley-park/
The Life and Works of Alan Turing opens this week
An exhibition of items from the life of gay computer genius and Second World War code-breaker Alan Turing was opened at Bletchley Park, Buckinghamshire yesterday by Top Gear presenter James May.
“The Life and Works of Alan Turing” exhibition includes a rebuilt Delilah, the secret speech system that Turing had begun work on during the Second World War, a letter to his mother twenty years after his death telling her for the very first time about his “vital importance to the outcome of World War II” and a teddy bear called Porgy on whom he would practise lectures.
The exhibition follows a campaign to save rare collection of Alan Turing’s work last year with private donations.
James May told ITV news at the launch: “He almost certainly shortened the war and quite possibly saved the country. Remember in the U-boat war we were within two or three weeks of being starved out of existence and if it hadn’t been for the code-breaking activities here led essentially by Turing, who was the pioneer, then we’d have lost and the world would be a different place. So Alan Turing is a hero of the nation, he must be.”
Iain Standen, CEO of the Bletchley Park Trust, describing the exhibition, said: ”The Life and Works of Alan Turing depicts a man who was not only a brilliant and visionary mathematician and codebreaker but also a beloved son, an accomplished sportsman and a man of humour and sensitivity.
= new reply since forum marked as read
The device I am working on owes a lot to this man's work.
Because of the Official Secrets Act we didn't know about it until recently.
Forgive me for not having the geek term but the "computer" that was developed at Bletchley Park is the foundation of every computer we use today.
When they received the Enigma codes for the submarines it would take hours and hours to decode them. When the Germans added the fourth wheel to the Enigma machine .. it took 18 more minutes.
Brilliant!!
It saved so many lives and made sure the Nazi mission of controlling the world died on the seas of the Atlantic.
And a personal note: My friend Liza Carbe's half sister's father died on a supply ship during the war. The photo of that explosion was just recently declassified. It was part of her dear mother's memorial... my friend Betty Carbe.
... a mathematician and computer scientist. 
The nerds never got enough cred back then.
There's an amazing novel, "Cryptonomicon" by Neal Stephenson, that revolves around Turing and Enigma ... and RSA & modern crypto. It's a mile thick, but you'll blaze through it. Really brings Turing's life and times to life -- with a alt. reality-esque spin.
