Sheril KirshenbaumDec 28, 2022

Alan Turing was a mathematician & cryptographer who was a leading code-breaker in the team that decrypted Nazi Germany’s Enigma machine during WWII. He inspired modern computing & what became AI.

Instead of being hailed as a genius & hero, Turing was convicted as a homosexual & forced to endure chemical castration. He died by suicide at 41 in 1954.

The British government didn’t apologize until 2009 & Queen Elizabeth II finally pardoned him in 2013. #history #science #HistoryRemix

Show threadMariuszDec 29, 2022
@Sheril except his team didn't decrypt Enigma. He just continued work done by Rejewski, Rozycki and Zygalski who were first to decrypt it.
Show threadBannedalotDec 29, 2022
@mks @Sheril "just continued" is a bit of a stretch. The Polish mathematicians had a mathematical model but It would have been impossible to calculate the answers with their machinery. Turing was well aware of his debt to them... He even called his machine "bombe"
Show threadMariuszDec 29, 2022
@bannedalot @Sheril Bombe was first created in Poland. Get your story straight.
Show threadBannedalotDec 29, 2022
@mks @Sheril my message makes it quite clear to anyone with a decent understanding of English {which is not clouded by ridiculous nationalism) that Turing was giving credit to the Poles by calling his machine the same name.
Show threadMariusz
@bannedalot @Sheril Have I said that Turing did not give them credit? My response was to the OP and my claim is that his team didn't decrypt enigma, but they only continued work started by someone else. Only recently the British started admitting that there was another group who did all the initial work. Isn't that the definition of ridiculous nationalism when you can't admit that someone else was successful before you?
Dec 29, 2022 at 4:17pmWeb
Show threadBannedalotDec 29, 2022

@mks @Sheril there is not one Enigma code.

Probably the Polish made an even bigger contribution by hiding the fact they'd started to break it. True bravery. A lot of work went into cracking Enigma and it would have got nowhere near as far without Turing., as he would have got nowhere near as far without the earlier Polish work

If you want to be a proud Pole, rather than a nationalistic nicompoop, you can talk about the Polish work without demeaning Turing.
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