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Fight Begins To Secure Turing Papers For Bletchley Park Museum

Posted by timothy on from the not-just-apple-Is-any-more dept.

Blacklaw writes "Auction house Christie's is planning to sell offprints of Alan Turing's early work for an estimated £500,000 — and the fight has begun to raise the money so UK codebreaking museum and charity Bletchley Park can house the documents in the building where Turing performed his war-winning work and birthed the concept of a modern 'universal computer.' If the money isn't raised, the papers could disappear into a private archive, never to be seen again."

66 comments

  1. Love to play Devil's Advocate... by kbonapart · · Score: 1

    Is a private collection a bad thing?

    Worst case scenario, they are lost forever in a private archive by a fire. Granted, worst case.

    Medium case, the papers are held privately, but returned to light at the owner's or heir's choosing.

    Best case, they are held but allowed to be in a public museum for viewing.


    It's a somewhat obscure purchase. Would someone willing to spend that much on those papers be unsympathetic to the ideas behind the papers?

    --
    There are no gods but ourselves.
    1. Re:Love to play Devil's Advocate... by mewrei · · Score: 1

      Should we get together a bunch of slashdotters to contribute to a community fund to purchase the documents and release them? I'd definitely fork out some cash for this.

    2. Re:Love to play Devil's Advocate... by obarthelemy · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Plus I'm sure there's pictures and copies of those papers around. I'm all for a bit of fetichism and idolatry, but I'm surprised geeks play at it too.

      --
      The Cloud - because you don't care if your apps and data are up in the air.
    3. Re:Love to play Devil's Advocate... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      These are off-prints, i.e., free sample copies of a journal article that authors are given.
      Chances are, you can already go to a good university library and make photocopies of the articles.

      If your university has a subscription, you can also see the articles on JSTOR:
      http://www.jstor.org/action/doBasicSearch?Query=au:(Turing)

    4. Re:Love to play Devil's Advocate... by RyuuzakiTetsuya · · Score: 3, Funny

      This belongs in a MUSEUM. </Indiana_jones>

      --
      Non impediti ratione cogitationus.
    5. Re:Love to play Devil's Advocate... by TheRaven64 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I'm surprised too. I mean, what's the interest in them being in the museum? It's not like they're original manuscripts, they're just the first print runs. Turing's papers are interesting for their content, not for the paper that they're printed on, and no one is going to go to a museum to read a paper (awkwardly displayed in a glass case in a dimly lit room so the print doesn't fade), when you can easily grab a PDF online. Turing's papers are fascinating, and I'd expect computer scientists to read them, but I don't see the attraction in collecting the offprints.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    6. Re:Love to play Devil's Advocate... by jonbryce · · Score: 1

      You won't be buying the copyright, just the original physical article.

    7. Re:Love to play Devil's Advocate... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Would you say the same about a famous painter's works?

    8. Re:Love to play Devil's Advocate... by TheRaven64 · · Score: 2, Informative

      These aren't the equivalent to a famous painter's works, they are equivalent to the first run of prints that a publisher made from a painter's work. They are not the papers written by Turing, they are the first run from the printing press after the publisher took them and typeset them.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    9. Re:Love to play Devil's Advocate... by Xest · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Just donate to Bletchley if you're interested, they're the experts at handling this kind of material and making it available for the public, better to let them do it and give them your money.

    10. Re:Love to play Devil's Advocate... by RockDoctor · · Score: 1

      Preprints are interesting in their own right. My collection of preprints (culled from the Departmental Library with permission, when the library was having a throwing out session) includes the signatures of one of the first geochronologists, on several papers documenting improving methods of geochronology and the first really scientific estimates of the age of the Earth. I also have the signature of one of the last people to see Malloy and Irvine on Everest.

      While I'm a Friend of Bletchley Park (it's only a few miles from my home town), I'm debating with myself whether to contribute. Turing's early work was done IIRC at Cambridge, and his later work at Manchester ; they have as much "right" to the preprints (signatures, notes ...) as Bletchley Park. Though in the popular mind, Turing is most strongly associated with Station X.

      Hmmm, I'll have a think about that over lunch.

      --
      Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
  2. The lesson of politics is that... by pegdhcp · · Score: 1, Insightful

    .... They are trying to make us to forget the government had him killed at the end...

    1. Re:The lesson of politics is that... by mister_dave · · Score: 1

      Alan Turing committed suicide. He was not assassinated by Men In Black.

      Bletchley Park is not a front organisation for The Nasty Government.

    2. Re:The lesson of politics is that... by sgt101 · · Score: 5, Informative

      You are trolling, but for the sake of accuracy here is what is generally acknowledged to be the case.

      - after the war he struggled to get the kind of role and financial support he should have been given without a quibble or a bat of the eye - he eventually got a very good job at the University of Manchester, which is a great place, but it is amazing that he wasn't treated as a national treasure (was it 2 of Hilberts challenges he solved? Even allowing for the secrecy around the work during the war someone in the know should have pushed it on that basis)
      - he was targeted for blackmail due to being gay when it was illegal
      - the police arrested him and he was prosecuted and punished with hormone therapy
      - the depression caused by the therapy and the awful behavior of society towards him, and his own personal isolation caused him to take his life
      - he did it in such a way to allow his mother to go on believing that it was an accident

      In 1956 the UK government had no reason to kill him, in fact it never did - quite the opposite. Instead they treated a great man with indifference and contempt because of his sexuality. I can't say that I can think of a more pathetic story in all senses of the word.

      If you want to feel worse about it (as a human) then think what might have been if he had lived 25 more years and had enjoyed the appropriate support

      --
      --------------------------------------------- "In the end, we're all just water and old stars."
    3. Re:The lesson of politics is that... by MichaelSmith · · Score: 1

      Well... the UK Government was treating him pretty badly at the time.

      --
      http://michaelsmith.id.au
    4. Re:The lesson of politics is that... by Mindcontrolled · · Score: 5, Insightful

      They still killed him - by hate and indifference. You do not have to pull the trigger to kill a man. I fully agree that this is one of the most pathetic stories of the modern age.

      --
      Ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant.
    5. Re:The lesson of politics is that... by Doctorer · · Score: 1

      Just for the sake of objectivity - did the authorities believe the hormone therapy a punishment or a treatment? If they thought it a treatment (since homosexuality has throughout all of human history been considered more a disordered inclination rather than a calculatedly malevolent crime) then it would be more appropriate to attribute the authorities with a benevolent intent (curing a problem) rather than a(n arguably) penal intent (exacting retribution for wrong done).

    6. Re:The lesson of politics is that... by wlad · · Score: 3, Informative

      This is an incredibly sad story, I always found it one of the most hateful stories about human behaviour but also a good lesson. People with extraordinary talent are used as long as they are needed, then the 'war' is over and the public doesn't care about them anymore. Then they turn into just another pawn that can be used for political games because they are 'different' in some way. Your past performances in no way protect you, as people take those for granted. In a way, it's the comparable to how soldiers/war heroes are treated, for example those with post traumatic stress. Locked away and forgotten.

    7. Re:The lesson of politics is that... by FuckingNickName · · Score: 0, Redundant

      Can someone please explain why the above post was moderated down? I have suggested that he was not driven to suicide for being homosexual, since anyone in the right situation could get away with practising homosexuality. IOW it was a very selectively enforced law. Recall Churchill on the Navy: rum, sodomy and the lash.

      In what way is this is trolling? thanks.

    8. Re:The lesson of politics is that... by TheRaven64 · · Score: 2, Informative

      It's a troll because you completely disregard history. It was not a selectively enforced law. Try reading The Ballad of Reading Gaol some time - lots of people went to prison for sodomy, the only requirement was evidence.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    9. Re:The lesson of politics is that... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      - the police arrested him and he was prosecuted and punished with hormone therapy

      Let's call a spade a spade. He was chemically castrated, and he committed suicide because of it in the end.

    10. Re:The lesson of politics is that... by Arancaytar · · Score: 3, Insightful

      So they didn't hold the weapon, but they destroyed his life until he ended it. Yeah, I'd say they killed him...

    11. Re:The lesson of politics is that... by mister_dave · · Score: 2, Informative

      I believe it was intended to reduce libido (chemical castration). "Turing agreed to take hormone therapy for a year instead of going to prison."

    12. Re:The lesson of politics is that... by Ginger+Unicorn · · Score: 1

      The OP said the government "had him killed" which carries the implication that they deliberately intended to kill him. The argument of the post seem to be to point out that the government did not intentionally kill him as some kind of calculcated political assasination, but rather as a side effect of bigotry and/or indifference.

      --
      (1.21 gigawatts) / (88 miles per hour) = 30 757 874 newtons
    13. Re:The lesson of politics is that... by mysidia · · Score: 1

      In 1956 the UK government had no reason to kill him, in fact it never did - quite the opposite. Instead they treated a great man with indifference and contempt because of his sexuality.

      They killed him by being a culpable, responsible party to his suicide.

      Culpable, because the government chose what actions to take.

      Responsible, because the actions (therapy) that were taken caused his suicide.

      So basically, yes, the government murdered him, as in they caused and were responsible for his death. The fact that he committed the physical act against himself does not relieve the government at all of the fact they are responsible and caused what happened.

    14. Re:The lesson of politics is that... by mysidia · · Score: 2, Insightful

      but rather as a side effect of bigotry and/or indifference.

      In other words, gross negligence.

      They committed what we would call today a hate crime.

      If you have a duty of care, commit gross negligence, and a person dies, you would be heading to jail with charges of manslaughter.

      The governments' killing of the man, by causing his own suicide, is no different.

      They knew or should have known, the ramifications of horome therapy, before forcing anyone into it.

      Even when punishing criminals, the government has a duty to not cause them to die or to permanently cause them to want to die.

    15. Re:The lesson of politics is that... by mister_dave · · Score: 1
      1. The courts, and the government, are not the same thing.
      2. You don't know why Mr Turing killed himself. He didn't leave a note.
    16. Re:The lesson of politics is that... by pbhj · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      Couple of points, he was a man in his early 40's - he was arrested when called the police on a teenager he picked up at the cinema and invited back to his house for sex. He knew that he would be arrested for his admission of sex with the young man; this suggests to me it was something more serious than just theft that he was reporting. I'd guess he was being blackmailed by foreign service agents, but it's a guess, it's certain that something doesn't add up in the reports that I've read. If it were a girl of the same age it wouldn't have been illegal, but he would have been shunned by most of society at the time for preying on such a young girl outside of marriage (again my opinion). He was clearly at risk of falling for a "honeytrap". I don't think he would have kept his job had be been caught picking up teen girls.

      Second point he was probably bisexual from what I've read of his relationship with the woman he got engaged to. Reports say that he was out as a homosexual when he was working during the war, but his wife spent her time with him at work and outside of work too and yet still didn't know until he told her after they were engaged; so he can't have been overt.

      Third, he chose hormone therapy as a "softer option" compared to prison so he wasn't forced, per se, to have hormone therapy. As a rather accomplished chemist the effects of such therapy would probably have been well understood by him. His choice of the hormone therapy suggests that he felt in some way that he needed treatment; maybe he too wasn't happy that he had a proclivity for teenage boys, maybe not.

    17. Re:The lesson of politics is that... by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      So why all the fuss about those children that have been bullied and committed suicide? Noone has ever as much as touched them, so all's OK, isn't it?

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    18. Re:The lesson of politics is that... by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      If you want to read an even more pathethic WWII story, read how the Czechoslovak fighters flying with RAF returned home only to be put into labour camps and prisons for kicking the common enemy's ass from the (politicaly) wrong country.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    19. Re:The lesson of politics is that... by tchdab1 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      What must be more sad (if it's a question of volume) is that uncounted numbers of people like Turing were then, before, and are treated this way today, but there is no sympathy or support or help for them because they are just people and not geniuses. We don't know who most of them are because, like Turing, they hide the truth from most people in their lives.
      They may not be subject to hormone therapy (though some were) but are ostracized, ridiculed, excluded, persecuted, killed. Even here on Slashdot surrounded by supposedly smart people.
      We can do better.

    20. Re:The lesson of politics is that... by RockDoctor · · Score: 1

      If you want to feel worse about it (as a human) then think what might have been if he had lived 25 more years and had enjoyed the appropriate support

      He'd have got into a pissing contest with Vint Cerf, and the IP4 address space would have been 64 bits wide.

      [Obligatory M$-bashing] Bill Gates would have stuck with his college courses instead of dropping out and writing BASIC interpreters.

      World hunger would have been solved in the late '70s.

      --
      Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
    21. Re:The lesson of politics is that... by Ginger+Unicorn · · Score: 1

      Couldn't agree more, but that's not relevant to the point I'm making. Doing something to someone in order to kill them is not the same as doing something to someone and not caring if it kills them or not. Alan Turing was not assassinated.

      --
      (1.21 gigawatts) / (88 miles per hour) = 30 757 874 newtons
  3. A little sad at this point... by macshit · · Score: 1

    From the website:

    Target: £500,000
    Raised so far: £140

    --
    We live, as we dream -- alone....
  4. I don't know where Christie's gets their prices by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Somebody is trying to sell an Apple I for over $100,000 right now. The only thing interesting about it is that it includes the original box and a tech-support reply written by Steve Jobs, who when I last checked was neither dead nor especially shy.

    And now they're trying to get about $1M for Turing's papers? I guess Steve Jobs can buy them, but I don't know who else is going to drop that kind of money. Hopefully whoever does buy them will donate them to an appropriate museum or library.

  5. Who cares! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Send the museum a photocopy of the papers or do something crazy like making an online copy available.

    Let someone with more money then sense buy the originals.

    If the originals were in the museum they would at best just be locked in a display case and only a few academics would be allowed to handle them.

    1. Re:Who cares! by houghi · · Score: 2, Funny

      A copy? That would be piracy and that would mean a fine much larger fine then anybody can pay. And making copies would take away the initiative for Mr. Turing to write any new papers. So please don't do that.

      --
      Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
    2. Re:Who cares! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Don't be silly. It would take away the incentive for Mr Turing's estate to write any new papers.

    3. Re:Who cares! by mysidia · · Score: 0, Redundant

      Don't be silly. It would take away the incentive for Mr Turing's estate to release any new papers.

      There, fixed it for ya

  6. Save yoyr money by gawdonblue · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Shit happens. It would be nice to have the papers at Bletchley Park but not for £500,000 - there are so many other things that sort of money could do.

    1. Re:Save yoyr money by MrEricSir · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      Hell, for that much money we could make a clone of Alan Turing.

      --
      There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
    2. Re:Save yoyr money by wlad · · Score: 2, Informative

      Indeed, that was my idea as well. Just make digital copies for the public, then make whoever wants buy the originals. As long as the information is preserved for the public, who cares...

  7. appropriation by FuckingNickName · · Score: 2, Insightful

    His work was funded by the people, built on the knowledge of the people, is part of the heritage of the people and its content belongs to the people. At worst, the "owner" should be required to maintain its condition and make it publicly available, and to provide digital copies which enter the public domain. Just like any item of antiquity or listed building.

    1. Re:appropriation by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      His work was funded by the people, built on the knowledge of the people, is part of the heritage of the people and its content belongs to the people. At worst, the "owner" should be required to maintain its condition and make it publicly available, and to provide digital copies which enter the public domain. Just like any item of antiquity or listed building.

      All of your work is built on the knowledge of the people. I demand that you place it all on display immediately.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    2. Re:appropriation by FuckingNickName · · Score: 1

      Erm, all my intellectual work which amounts to more than scraps or drill exercises is publicly available and can for the most part be downloaded. I'm not providing you with links because I maintain anonymity using this account. But I make a point of not hoarding my work, and I've got in more than several arguments with people who want me to do so.

      The few times I have tried to build with my hands, I have made such a hash of it that it would probably threaten your safety if you tried to use the fruits of my labour. But I'm hoping it is more energy efficient to burn firewood for heat than the gas transported hundreds/thousands of miles.

    3. Re:appropriation by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      It's a ridiculous argument, if anything it should be scanned if it's the only copy and then it can be used for bumwad for all I care. Individual pieces of media are often destroyed regardless of paper or plastic.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    4. Re:appropriation by mysidia · · Score: 1

      Its content belongs to the people, but not the original physical papers. Physical papers generally belong to whoever possessed them and imprinted things upon them, maybe their employer in some cases --- but definitely not the public.

      Turings' work is subject to copyright, therefore won't be public domain for a long time, but the essential content of these things WAS published. Its not like they contain data or text that are not already available through Turings' published works

    5. Re:appropriation by FuckingNickName · · Score: 1

      So you are agreeing with the principle and just debating the detail of whether the original hard copy has any value. Now, the latter question is argued in the positive by museums across the world, so I don't think we need to rehash that.

    6. Re:appropriation by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      I agree with the principle that the data is priceless, but not that someone should be subjected to expense because of that. Priceless shouldn't mean that you can be expected to pay any price because you own something :p

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  8. Possibly wildly inappropriate suggestion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Couldn't they just get a digital copy?

  9. These are NOT worth real money!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    These are PRINTED, PUBLISHED, ARTICLES, available in many libraries, they are NOT unique handwritten manuscripts!

    A few have signatures, of no research value. There are far better uses of £500,000 to promote Turing's work.

  10. manuscripts? by sugarmotor · · Score: 1

    I think reading the papers through the Internet, in a library, or from your own print-out is enough.

    I would suggest Alan Turing would feel the same.

    (How would you feel about your own writing being auctioned, but easily available otherwise?)

    Stephan

    --
    http://stephan.sugarmotor.org
    1. Re:manuscripts? by mysidia · · Score: 1

      (How would you feel about your own writing being auctioned, but easily available otherwise?)

      That depends on who is auctioning them.

      If they were being sold by my spouse / kids, because they really needed the money, I would be all for it.

      Otherwise, I would rather have it burned than auctioned.

  11. Onoes! by SeaFox · · Score: 2, Insightful

    If the money isn't raised, the papers could disappear into a private archive, never to be seen again."

    OR they could be bought by a private collector who could just as easily "indefinitely loan" them to Bletchley Park. Just as many private art collectors have pieces on loan to museums.

    1. Re:Onoes! by multipartmixed · · Score: 1

      > Just as many private art collectors have pieces on loan to museums.

      I thought that was so they could avoid insurance premiums and get them cared for properly until they wanted to display them above the television in the breakfast nook.

      --

      Do daemons dream of electric sleep()?
    2. Re:Onoes! by mysidia · · Score: 1

      Makes sense.... not only does the collector retain ownership in that case, but the museum can be responsible for keeping it in pristine condition. The collector looks good to the public because they are being nice and allowing the museum to display the work.

      If the collector wants to sell... the museum is also free advertising in regards to the nature of the work, and the fact it exists and might be available for purchase later.

  12. and in other news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    The German navy files suit under the DMCA

  13. could be fake by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    How do we know this is really Turing's work and not, say, an imitation by an advanced AI?

  14. Who cares? by t2t10 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    What difference does it make what happens to his "original" papers? They have been published and are accessible to all.

    With Turing, of all people, one should understand that it is the information contained in those papers that matters--which is public--not the physical artifact.

  15. Misleading headline by DerekLyons · · Score: 2, Informative

    The headline is, as usual, misleading. These aren't Turing's papers (which usually means personal papers and notes belonging to the person named), they're copies of [professional] papers he wrote.

  16. Oh really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "in the building where Turing performed his war-winning work and birthed the concept of a modern 'universal computer.'"

    Given that his paper, On Computable Numbers, was published in 1937, well before WWI started, I'm wondering exactly where this building might be...

    1. Re:Oh really? by korean.ian · · Score: 1

      "in the building where Turing performed his war-winning work and birthed the concept of a modern 'universal computer.'"

      Given that his paper, On Computable Numbers, was published in 1937, well before WWI started, I'm wondering exactly where this building might be...

      It seems you're thinking of an alternate universe... :)

  17. Here's what the article should say: by rcharbon · · Score: 1

    "If the money isn't raised, Christie's may not get the enormous commission they're hoping for."