Tuesday, 7 February 2012

February 7th

 

Break the tender peel,

Let the sleeping death seep through,

Enigma silent.

 

Hopefully Alan Turing will get his pardon this year, the 100th anniversary of his death. A war hero, genius mathematician and the father of modern computing he suffered the indignity of a chemical castration after admitting to sexual relations with another man. A tragedy and a disgrace by today’s standards but sadly illegal in his time. 

His favourite film was Disney’s Snow White, he used to quote lines from it. I’ve adapted a couple of them in today’s Haiku. He took his own life by taking a bite from a poisoned apple.

Pic from Bletchley Park website.

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