The most significant Genius in History

[The Artist formerly known as Sappho]

He was odd through and through. Had a stutter. Was a loner. Renowned for his sense of humour. Was charged under the same laws as Oscar Wilde had some hundred years prior. Suffered chemical castration. Committed suicide at 42 through the use of a poisoned apple, aka Sleeping Beauty style (his fav children's story), but is not remembered for any of this.

He was the most significant Genius to have ever graced life, influencing more people than has any other person or nation, then or now. An extraordinary mind he was, and that I can tell you this, on this forum, is because of him.

The odds of breaking the German's U-boat Enigma Cipher, were worked out to be something like 150 million, million, million to one. The Enigma Cipher was the msg sent to a receiver with an Enigma Machine, advising them of how to set that machine in order to receive the intelligence to follow which would otherwise read as gibberish. The British had an Enigma Machine, but they didn't have the code that would allow them to use it. This MAN amongst men, broke that code. Eisenhower latter of this man, that he shortened WWII by two years at least. Others said that he had reduced the Allied casualties and deaths by more than half. This man then was a cryptologist... A Code Breaker par excellence. His Eureka moment? That from inconsistency, consistency is found.

To Biology he originated the science of morphogenesis which explained how patterns formed in Nature.

Prior to all of this, the man of men was puzzled by Gödel’s incompleteness theorems which claimed that all logical systems must be incomplete. After much introspection and dialogue with fellow logician Wittgenstein, he concluded that it is not the logical systems that are incomplete, but rather the questions being asked of the logic that are incomplete. He used an original and complex philosophical thought experiment to prove his point... and that thought experiment, from the 1930s now represents the foundation theories necessary for computer science.

In awe of this man was the academic community... some thought to creating this philosophical machine and did. Turing then created programming necessary to run these machines solving the issue of... the number of characters required per bit with the use of Leibniz's binary numbers.

Finally, he is the originator of studies Artificial Intelligence and argued that an infallible machine could never be intelligent which provided the natural learning model of trial and error which AI machines now use to navigate reality.

June 23 this year is the Centenary of this great, great man and this thread is aimed at paying homage to him.

His name? Alan Turing of course.

[mellie]

Let us not gloss over the fact that he was a repeat child sex offender rendering anything else (brilliant or not) he did null and void.

Just another fucked-up pervert still haunting and desecrating the pages of history, mostly due to scum like you who still think they are worth celebrating based on professional/academic achievements alone, the harm they have caused others seemingly irrelevant?

Sorry, they aren't worth celebrating,

And neither are you.

[The Artist formerly known as Sappho]

Let us not gloss over the fact that he was a repeat child sex offender rendering anything else (brilliant or not) he did null and void.

Just another fucked-up pervert sicko still haunting and desecrating the pages of history, mostly due to scum like you who still think they are worth celebrating based on professional/academic achievements alone, the harm they have caused others aside.

Sorry, they aren't.

And neither are you.

And you say that using a computer that requires his theories so it can work. Lol... by your moral standards, you would quite happily eat the pies of Todd Sweeney, made from human flesh, yet bemoan the many murders that brought you such delicacies.

If you are that dead against the man... stop using his inventions. Show some back bone woman. Find some moral fortitude to back up your claims... which without such are shallow, petty gripes.

Anyway, where is the evidence for your claim.

[Guest]

Mellie doesn't need evidence.

As the Monk has observed (BTW, he got banned? The one interesting poster here!) Mellie doesn't need proof! She has voices in her head that tell her stuff! Quick Google and she is ready to sound intelligent and informed.

Well, so she thinks anyway!

[AnimalMother]

Turing suffered a huge injustice, being persecuted for his homosexuality. A couple of words from Churchill or others in the know could have saved the life of this inestimably valuable man.

It is a blot on British history that he gave so much, and received such foul treatment in return.

[The Artist formerly known as Sappho]

Turing suffered a huge injustice, being persecuted for his homosexuality. A couple of words from Churchill or others in the know could have saved the life of this inestimably valuable man.

It is a blot on British history that he gave so much, and received such foul treatment in return.

Agreed AM. Your avatar pic reminded me that Turing would always use a bike chain to lock his mug to the oil heater at work so that no one would pinch it. He would also wear a rather alarming kind of gas mask when biking to and from Uni to avoid the pollen in the air. Lol... he did odd things.

[IQS.RLOW]

Mellie doesn't need evidence.

As the Monk has observed (BTW, he got banned? The one interesting poster here!) Mellie doesn't need proof! She has voices in her head that tell her stuff! Quick Google and she is ready to sound intelligent and informed.

Well, so she thinks anyway!

Your ego and the massive abuse of exclamation marks give you away Monk

[AiA in Atlanta]

Let us not gloss over the fact that he was a repeat child sex offender rendering anything else (brilliant or not) he did null and void.

Just another fucked-up pervert still haunting and desecrating the pages of history, mostly due to scum like you who still think they are worth celebrating based on professional/academic achievements alone, the harm they have caused others seemingly irrelevant?

Sorry, they aren't worth celebrating,

And neither are you.

Would you say the same about Socrates? I think not ...

[Super Nova]

Alan Turing was a genius. No doubt about it. Also the English scrapped this computer technology after WWII allowing the US to dominate this space. Not only were they silly to do this, they were silly not to have built on what he designed and built.

His impact on shorting the war is clear. Brilliant. Amasing what can be achieved with a few valves.

However I would argue for all his genius he is not the most significant.

He built his solution on the shoulders of other giants.

Like:

Newton - all the phyical world, even macro electroncs can be explained using newtons theories. E=IR and all that. Without this there would not have been the real revolutuion based on scientific understanding. Including the first computers. Basic electronics still used thoeries built on this.

Einstein - all the phycial world too small to be described by Newtons theories have been built on this. Including some of the theories of the very big as well. Brilliant, provide a new understanding of the universe. Failed to unify everything but others will build on this find the answer.

And many other built on what the Greeks did, that was built on by the Arabs before it come back to Europe to be built on again.

To qualify for "most significant" I think they must have the "most impact and influence" on todays theories. Alan Turing does not meet this criteria. He was a genius.. just not the most significant.

[Super Nova]

Nikola Tesla. This guy was a real Genius... got screwd but changed the world.

You think you’d know his name. Every time you switch on a light or turn on your radio, you are benefiting from the labors of his brilliant mind. His contributions are as far reaching as those of Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton, or even his nemesis Tom Edison, yet few know his name.

Nikola Tesla.

Tesla was a lifelong inventor who wanted nothing but to uplift the condition of humanity, yet was, in the end, rewarded with obscurity.

He died in a motel room; penniless and largely forgotten in 1946, at the age of 86.

His inventions include:
•AC electricity
•Neon lights
•Radio transmission
•The electric motor
•Remote control
•Hydraulics
•Basic laser and radar technology
•X-rays
•Cellular technology
•Star Wars tactical warfare and space weapons
•Robotics, and much, much more

All over 100 years ago!

Tesla’s greatest invention also became his downfall. He claimed to have invented a way to harness free energy from the voltage difference in the ionosphere that causes lightning, which made him a threat to the world energy economy.

Immediately after his death, most of his inventions were classified for national security reasons by the U.S. government. Many of his discoveries in physics have never been released to the public.

Tesla was a mystic who wrote and recited poetry, and spoke 6 languages. Yet he battled hallucinogenic episodes daily, and suffered from various compulsions and phobias. Perhaps a perfect example of how closely related madness and genius can be, if there ever was one.