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Comment by mullingitover | Hacker News Reader

There are other deserving scientists and thinkers, it's true. But there are no other scientists or thinkers that were as grievously and unapologetically wronged by the UK as Turing was. For all he did to help them win what was literally a fight for their existence, they should've put him on the ten pound note in 1946 amid celebration, instead of vacillating about it in 2012.

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Quite a few other people fought in the war, and quite a lot of people paid with their lives.

Not to downplay Turings own contribution, but I wish the hyperbole and the "he was persecuted!" angle could be reined in somehow.

Also if anything I think scientists/thinkers have had more than their fair share of slots in banknotes. Perhaps the turn of former PMs, artists, charity founders etc.

Are you saying he wasn't persecuted, or that it doesn't matter that he was? Serious question.

Throughout history, people sometimes make bad calls. With hindsight, it's easy to see what those were. Clearly some of his treatment was in the 'bad call' camp, but I don't think that was clear at the time.

Do you think he'd rather be remembered for his contribution to science, or for being 'persecuted by the government'? Personally, I expect it'd be the former.

I think it's useful to put things in perspective though... People fought in the war and DIED.

Yes, they did, and Turing was chemically castrated. Not by the baddies, either. It might not be going to war to die, but that is still pretty messed up.

It is in retrospect. So are thousands of things people used to do.

> Yes, they did, and Turing was chemically castrated. Not by the baddies, either.

I'd argue that it was in fact the baddies that did this to him. The flag that injustice is committed under does not change the fact of the injustice.

> Throughout history, people sometimes make bad calls. With hindsight, it's easy to see what those were. Clearly some of his treatment was in the 'bad call' camp, but I don't think that was clear at the time.

This is a bullshit argument, of course they knew what they were doing to him and why. They persecuted him with the intent to eradicate homosexual people. If you can give the Brits the benefit of doubt and assume that it wasnt clear to them how bad it was what they were doing to homosexuals, than you can equally claim that it wasnt so clear to the Nazis that it was bad what they were doing to the Jews. The persecution og the homosexual minority by the heterosexual majority is not less obviously wrong than the persecution of the black minority by the white majority or the persecution of the jew minority by the christian majority.

No, they did it in the hope that it would make him less prone to being compromised and giving away secrets to the enemy. That doesn't make it any less wrong, but to claim they were basically just a bunch of gay-haters is a bit silly.

If Turing were to be chosen to be on a bank note, I'd hope that it was for his undoubted achievements in his field rather than a sense of guilt or sympathy.

Why can't it be both? He qualifies for the running based on his achievements alone, and his persecution is an extra reason to do this. He didn't qualify simply because he was persecuted.

I feel that focussing on Turing's persecution almost belies his achievements and by continually focussing on his chemical castration, we begin to lose sight of his brilliance as a mathematician. Of course his treatment was abhorrent, but that's not why we as a nation should recognise him. Surely the fact that he is being considered at all to shows the esteem with which he is held?

> Also if anything I think scientists/thinkers have had more than their fair share of slots in banknotes. Perhaps the turn of former PMs...

From an American perspective I assumed you were being facetious until I actually looked up who's on UK banknotes. I'll be damned--you guys actually seem like a civilized country. Since "Series D", you've only had two politicians on banknotes--and one of them was better known as a military commander.

For contrast, recent US banknotes picture an assortment of former Presidents, as well as Alexander Hamilton (first US Treasury Secretary), Benjamin Franklin, and Civil War era US Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase. We don't have a single non-politician, but we do have three slaveholders and the guy responsible for ethnic cleansing of American Indians. It would be nice to give some other notable historic Americans a chance.

It is also not like Alan Turing would be filling the "only slot" of being honored on currency. Other deserving scientists have been / will be on bills.

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