Alan Turing is credited with a key role in breaking wartime German codes
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A last minute donation from the National Heritage Memorial Fund has saved the papers of the computing genius Alan Turing for the nation.
The collection of scientific papers and material relating to Turing’s work on wartime codebreaking was in danger of going abroad.
He was one of the founding fathers of modern computing and a key figure in breaking the German Enigma code.
The National Heritage Memorial Fund’s £200,000 donation filled the gap.
The papers were put up for auction last year and an internet campaign swung into action.
The aim was to save the papers for the museum at Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire, where Turing worked breaking codes during the war.
IT journalist Gareth Halfacree managed to raise £23,000 from public donations.
Internet search firm Google also pledged cash but the money raised was £200,000 short of the seller’s reserve price.
The Fund says the papers will stand as a permanent memorial to a man who played a crucial role in the war.
Turing is famous for his code-breaking work at Bletchley Park during World War II, helping to create the Bombe machine which cracked messages enciphered using the German Enigma code.
He committed suicide in 1954 at the age of 41, two years after being prosecuted for having a sexual relationship with a man.
In 2009 thousands of people signed a Downing Street petition calling for a posthumous government apology to Turing.
Turing’s Bombe machine is viewed by many as the progenitor of the modern computer
The then prime minister Gordon Brown responded by saying he was sorry for the “appalling” way Turing was treated for being gay.
Mr Halfacree told the BBC: “These papers are extremely significant.”
During Turing’s short life he only published 18 papers and offprints of 15 of them, which were given by Turing to his friend Professor Max Newman, are included in the collection.
Mr Halfacree said: “There are handwritten notes by Turing on them and one of them has the signature of his mother on it.”
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Mr Sheen has also appeared in the films Wall Street and Platoon
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Production of Two and Half Men has been halted after remarks by the hit US series’ star, Charlie Sheen.
Mr Sheen slammed the programme’s producer in a radio interview on Thursday.
The decision was based on the “totality of Charlie Sheen’s statements, conduct and condition”, Warner Bros Television studio and the CBS network said in a joint statement.
The 45-year-old actor has also appeared in the films Wall Street and Platoon.
Production of the show had been postponed since late January after Mr Sheen, the son of Hollywood actor Martin Sheen, entered rehabilitation for reported drug and alcohol abuse.
The actor’s publicist had said earlier on Thursday that Two and a Half Men would resume production next week when Mr Sheen had finished his rehabilitation.
But the statement by CBS and Warner Bros Television was issued after Mr Sheen phoned into a US radio programme to criticise the programme’s co-creator Chuck Lorre, as well as Alcoholics Anonymous.
The actor – one of America’s highest-paid stars – was taken to hospital in Los Angeles with severe abdominal pains late last month before entering rehab.
He filed for divorce from his third wife, Brooke Mueller, in November, citing irreconcilable differences.
In late October 2009, Mr Sheen was accused of causing damage to a hotel room in New York. After hotel security reported Mr Sheen was disorderly, the actor voluntarily went with authorities for a psychiatric evaluation.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
A French doctor in Benghazi told the BBC that as many as 2,000 people might have died there
US President Barack Obama has called the leaders of the UK, France and Italy as international efforts to respond to the crisis in Libya gather pace.
Mr Obama outlined a range of possible measures, including plans for humanitarian assistance.
Earlier, the White House said all options were on the table, including sanctions. It said the military would present its own proposals to Mr Obama.
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi meanwhile blamed the uprising on al-Qaeda.
Speaking on state television, he repeated claims that hallucinogenic drugs had been given to young people to incite them to revolt.
Fierce fighting has been reported in towns close to Tripoli, as forces loyal to him try to regain control of areas seized by the opposition.
A witness in Zawiya, 50km (30 miles) to the west, said an army unit had attacked protesters with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades.
“The Libyan revolt has put the UN under the spotlight… because European nations on the Security Council are under public pressure to be seen as doing something”
Barbara Plett UN headquarters, New YorkUN’s Libyan quandary
Ships and military aircraft have been sent to evacuate thousands of foreign nationals trying to flee the turmoil.
On Thursday, Mr Obama telephoned French President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, UK Prime Minister David Cameron and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to co-ordinate a response to the Libya crisis.
“The president expressed his deep concern with the Libyan government’s use of violence which violates international norms and every standard of human decency,” said a statement.
“The leaders discussed the range of options… to hold the Libyan government accountable for its actions, as well as planning for humanitarian assistance.”
US officials said the steps could include seeking stronger action by the UN Security Council – including possible sanctions such as travel bans and asset freezes – support for calls to suspend Libya from the UN Human Rights Council, and enforcing a no-fly zone over Libya.
When asked earlier whether the US was considering military action, White House spokesman Jay Carney said he could not rule out “bilateral options”.
The UN Security Council is expected to meet later on Friday in New York to consider further action against Col Gaddafi’s government.
The UK’s permanent representative, Mark Lyall Grant, had told the Council’s 15 member states at a closed session on Thursday that Col Gaddafi had failed to heed Tuesday’s demand to stop the violence against peaceful demonstrators.
At the scene
Until a few days ago, Benghazi was the scene of some of the fiercest fighting in Libya. Now it’s safely in opposition control and the port has become an evacuation route for thousands of foreign nationals.
Local people told me how protesters took on Col Gaddafi’s best fighters who were in a huge base in the centre of the city. The government troops shot at them using heavy weaponry, including anti-aircraft guns and mortars. Around 300 protesters were killed.
But gradually they armed themselves with makeshift weapons. They stole construction vehicles, loaded them with petrol then loaded them to blast holes in the walls of the military compound.
The city is now run by a committee of judges and lawyers. There are signs everywhere urging people to go back to work. Some people from the city have armed themselves with looted weapons. They are now pushing forward to oust Col Gaddafi’s forces from their remaining strongholds in the west.
Hopes for new era
But it remains to be seen what steps Russia and China, who are traditionally reluctant to impose sanctions, will support.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is due to travel to Geneva on Monday for a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council focusing on Libya.
The Swiss government has ordered an immediate freeze on assets belonging to Col Gaddafi and his associates.
On Thursday, Col Gaddafi told Libyan state television that Osama Bin Laden and his followers were responsible for the violence that was sweeping the country.
“Bin Laden… this is the enemy who is manipulating people. Do not be swayed by Bin Laden,” he said in a telephone interview.
He said the young protesters were “trigger happy and they shoot especially when they are stoned with drugs”.
“They put hallucinatory pills in their drinks, their milk, their coffee, their Nescafe.”
Col Gaddafi also repeatedly referred to the western town of Zawiya, where fierce fighting has been reported, calling the situation there a “farce”.
A witness said an army unit had attacked protesters there at a mosque with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, while a doctor said he had seen at least 10 dead as well as dozens of wounded.
Col Muammar Gaddafi: ”You should not listen to Bin Laden and his followers”
State television announced that the air force had destroyed what was left of weapons depots in desert and rural areas outside government control.
There have been other clashes in the opposition-controlled city of Misrata, about 200km (120 miles) from Tripoli, while reports from the capital say that the bodies of people killed there have been cleared off the streets.
Witnesses said pro-Gaddafi militiamen – including foreign mercenaries – had been patrolling the Tripoli’s main streets, firing in the air.
Security had also been stepped up outside key government buildings, and homes and hospitals had been raided in search of opposition supporters, they added.
“Now is the time of secret terror and secret arrests,” one resident told AP. “They are going to go home-to-home and liquidate opponents that way.”
The government has lost control of most of the country’s east. Opposition leaders met on Thursday in the city of al-Bayda to demonstrate a united front against Col Gaddafi’s grip on power.
In another blow to the Libyan leader, his cousin and close aide Ahmed Qadhaf al-Dam announced he had defected to Egypt in protest at the “grave violations to human rights”.
The total number of deaths has been impossible to determine. Human Rights Watch says it has confirmed nearly 300 deaths, but the International Federation for Human Rights says at least 700 people have been killed.
A French doctor in Benghazi, Gerrard Buffet, told the BBC that as many as 2,000 people might have died in the east alone.
Ships and military aircraft have been sent to evacuate thousands of foreign nationals trying to flee the turmoil in Libya.
Turkey repatriated more than 7,000 of its citizens by ship; and ferries brought more than four thousand Chinese workers to Crete.
Larger numbers crossed overland into Egypt and Tunisia.
A US-chartered ferry carrying nearly 300 people remains stuck in harbour in Tripoli because of bad weather.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
