October 23, 2020 - Issue: Vol. 166, No. 182 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 2nd Session

[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E986]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     HONORING ALAN TURING AS A DISTINGUISHED MATHEMATICIAN AND HERO

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                            HON. DARREN SOTO

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, October 23, 2020

  Mr. SOTO. Madam Speaker, Alan Turing was a brilliant English 
mathematician, founder of modern computer science and a World War II 
hero.
  His contributions during the war, especially his work alongside 
others in cryptography, were hailed as `priceless' by our own President 
Eisenhower. By breaking German military-codes, Turing helped to quickly 
win the Battle of the Atlantic, without which the Allies may not have 
been able to launch D-Day in 1944. His efforts helped to shorten the 
war, possibly by years, saving incalculable human life.
  Even today, our lives are impacted by his work. Turing is credited 
with creating the modem computer concept and helping to found computer 
science by theorizing a programmable machine capable of computing 
anything computable.
  Yet Turing was more than just a mathematician, an inventor or a hero. 
Turing was a gay man. Because he was gay, he faced persecution for 
merely being who he was. In 1952, just seven years after he had helped 
defeat the Nazis, he was prosecuted for being in a gay relationship and 
forced to undergo chemical castration to avoid prison.
  Two years later, in 1954, he died, possibly by suicide. He was only 
41.
  Turing's life is a reminder of how brilliant anyone could be, no 
matter what the world perceived them or of whom they loved. His life 
also serves as a reminder of the harm and costs that accompany 
discrimination and prejudice. We will never know what else Alan Turing 
might have discovered had he been accepted, and what he might have 
accomplished had his life not been cut so short. We do know that the 
world owes him a great deal of gratitude, and for that, we honor him 
for LGBTQ History Month.

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