tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2433841880619171855.post1398336896992311886..comments2024-03-27T21:09:44.320+00:00Comments on Pat'sBlog: Hallucinations, Polar Graphs, Alan Turing, Logarithms and the LeopardUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2433841880619171855.post-49255589358743208192010-02-21T17:34:41.469+00:002010-02-21T17:34:41.469+00:00Sue,
I heard about the same story as one of the p...Sue,<br /> I heard about the same story as one of the possibilities so you probably have it remembered correctly.<br /><br />Ok, I just checked with Wikipedia and they have, "On 8 June 1954, Turing's cleaner found him dead; he had died the previous day. A post-mortem examination established that the cause of death was cyanide poisoning. When his body was discovered an apple lay half-eaten beside his bed, and although the apple was not tested for cyanide,[41] it is speculated that this was the means by which a fatal dose was delivered. An inquest determined that he had committed suicide, and he was cremated at Woking crematorium on 12 June 1954.<br /><br />Turing's mother argued strenuously that the ingestion was accidental, caused by her son's careless storage of laboratory chemicals. Biographer Andrew Hodges suggests that Turing may have killed himself in an ambiguous way quite deliberately, to give his mother some plausible deniability.[42] Others suggest that Turing was re-enacting a scene from the 1937 film Snow White, his favourite fairy tale, pointing out that he took "an especially keen pleasure in the scene where the Wicked Witch immerses her apple in the poisonous brew." <br /><br />Darn, cyanide, guess I have to correct that.Pat's Bloghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15234744401613958081noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2433841880619171855.post-23514621364058480232010-02-21T16:25:36.216+00:002010-02-21T16:25:36.216+00:00Thanks, Pat, that's a great story! Now I'l...Thanks, Pat, that's a great story! Now I'll think of Turning every time I look at the apples on my computers.<br /><br />A bit more information, from <a href="http://www.betterworldbooks.com/Alan-Turing-id-0671492071.aspx" rel="nofollow">Alan Turing: The Enigma</a>, by Andrew Hodges. If I remember correctly, he was arrested for something he did with another man, and forced to take female hormones. I think Hodges attributed his suicide to the depression this caused.<br /><br />I'll go read the brain article now - it sounds fascinating.Sue VanHattumhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10237941346154683902noreply@blogger.com