A for Apple... and something more..

Trade mark of APPLE COMPUTERS

Ever wondered what a Single bite on an apple signifies on the trade mark? It is an interesting story. Story of the genius who invented the basic computer and his tragic end at the hands of British Government whom he served during after the Great War.

As I started writing this piece, news came on the twitter that the British Government has apologised to Alan Turing for all the wrong done to him posthumously and that too after a gap of about 5o years.

So who was this great personality?

Alan Turing was a great British Mathematician who laid the groundwork for the Computer revolution. He was also the great visionary in the field of artificial intelligence. He proposed a simple machine having three basic units: an input tape, an output tape and a central processor which would perform a precise set of operations. From this developed the modern day computer

During world war II he helpled the British and the Allied Army in their fight against powerful Germany. The Allies were unable to decode secret German messages which were encrypted using a machine called ENIGMA. To break the code, Turing and his associates developed a machine called BOMBE through which the Allies could easily decipher German messages about their invasion plans leading ultimately to the defeat of the Nazis.

Instead of being hailed as war hero, who helped to turn the tide of world war II, Turing was hounded to death. One day his home was burglarized, and he called the Police. Unfortunately,the police found evidence of homosexuality and arrested him. Turing was then ordered by the British court to be injected with sex hormones, which had a disastrous effect, causing him to grow breasts and causing him great mental agony. He committed suicide in 1954 by eating an apple laced with cyanide.

It is rumoured that the logo of Apple Corporation pays homage to the great Alan Turing.

We might also recall the case of the great astronomer Galileo, to whom the Pope and the Catholic church apologized centuries later, acknowledging his theory that the Earth revolves around the Sun and not the other way round as the the Church would have us believe then.

This piece has an important relevance too.

Not too long ago the honourable Delhi High Court made a landmark judgement making homosexuality/lesbianism etc legitimate. While it has been generally welcomed by the enlightened public, there are still people crying hoarse demanding a review of the case and they have approached the Supreme Court.

The honourable Judges of the High Court relied on scientific evidence available currently for their pronouncement and not on social mores or religious tenets. This is refreshing and thus, The Government of India need not apologise may be after half a century later, like Mr.Gordon Brown of Gr.Britain or the Pope at Vatican.

PS :

The material for the above write up on the Apple Trademark was largely gathered from a very good book, PHYSICS OF THE IMPOSSIBLE by Prof.Michio Kaku, published by Penguin under Popular Science series. Great reading!