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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."

12 of 66 comments (clear)

  1. 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 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.
    2. 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...

    3. 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.

    4. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.
  4. 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.

  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. 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.

  7. 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.

  8. 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.