Today would have been the 100th birthday of Alan M. Turing. If ever the word "genius" applied to a human being, it applied to him…and I don't mean "genius" in the way Milton Berle used to use it to describe anybody who knew how to get a laugh on stage. I mean "genius" as in: The man who figured out the basic concepts of artificial intelligence on which most computer science is based. That was after he was the master cryptologist for the Allies during World War II and broke many key Nazi codes to aid our side. Either achievement is pretty impressive.
Turing was born June 23, 1912. He died June 4, 1954 — a suicide obviously caused by being persecuted for his homosexuality. This world has wasted a lot of geniuses that way.
Thanks to Ed Toomey for reminding me about a day well worth noting. Turing is also the subject of today's Google doodle which I'd try to figure out if I had a few hours…