Things I Didn't Know
As both a computer geek and a WWII buff, I of course know something of Alan Turing's incredible contributions to both. I also knew he was gay, but didn't think much about it. What I didn't know was how horribly he was abused by the British government, actions for which the government has now appologized:
In 1952, he was convicted of "Ëœgross indecency' -- in effect, tried for being gay. His sentence -- and he was faced with the miserable choice of this or prison -- was chemical castration by a series of injections of female hormones. He took his own life just two years later.
A lot more at the link. I am constantly amazed at how we tend to elevate the mediocre while treating the truly great so shabbily.
Postscript: The most entertaining way to learn something about Turing, albeit in fictionalized form, is to read Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon, one of my favorite books. The story is good (not great, but good) but the writing is just fabulous. Who else could entertain one for page after page on the physics of eating Cap'n Crunch cereal?
