Definitely the first full cherry blossom sighting of the year, sprouting in the nicely sheltered urban heat reservoir that is Sackville Gardens, Manchester. Dr. Turing’s statue looks rather content to be there, as it usually does.
Chosen as much because this was the year’s first outbreak of cherry blossom — at least, in my sight. The position of the photographer on this shot was carefully chosen — Alan Turing’s statue is visible, the litter bin is artfully concealed.
Did not feel a great deal more interested in engaging with the world today than I did yesterday, but was obliged to haul myself into Manchester in any case. The city seems to have definitively adopted Alan Turing (that’s him…) as one of its own, despite the fact that he only spent the very last portion of his truncated life here. But hey, there are many worse and less significant people to eulogise.
This is Alan Turing’s second ‘personal’ appearance on the blog (the other being here) not to mention that of the building named after him at university. Members of my family haven’t appeared as often. Then again, I probably walk past Turing more often.
Although there are other eminent candidates, Alan Turing is probably the most famous single scientist ever to have worked at the University of Manchester. If it wasn’t for his work on the philosophical-technological basis of computing – the idea that a machine did not have to be built to perform one task, but could perform many, if it were given the right instructions – we might not be sitting here doing all these things we do with ICT. On the other hand, if he hadn’t been persecuted for his sexuality, and committed suicide as a result, who knows how much further the technology could have advanced. This memorial to him sits (literally) in Sackville Gardens, at the corner of Whitworth and Sackville Streets, Manchester.
Being 42 