[url=https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/news/2019/july/50-pound-banknote-character-announcement]Alan Turing to be the face of new £50 note[/url] | Bank of England

In the same vein, missed this story from last September when it first came out:

[url=https://inews.co.uk/news/uk/bletchley-park-alan-turing-dermot-henryk-zygalski-chichester-polish-codebreaker/]Finally remembered: the Polish codebreaker key to Bletchley Park cracking Enigma[/url] | Inews UK: [i]Henryk Zygalski's crucial work will be recognised today when a memorial is unveiled, writes Demot Turing, nephew of famed codebreaker Alan[/i]
[quote]The British are rightly proud of the code-breaking centre at Buckinghamshire’s Bletchley Park, which famously cracked the Enigma cipher machine and, according to one historian, helped shorten the Second World War by as much as two years.

The story has almost passed into legend, perhaps tempting us to visualise the man most closely associated with this episode – Alan Turing, my uncle – battling alone against prejudice and a mountainous, intellectual problem.

The truth is a little more complicated, but just as interesting.

[b]The Poles who must be celebrated[/b]

The reality is that Turing had help from Poland – the country that Britain pledged to defend in 1939. It was there, seven years earlier, that a different team of code-breakers had already got to the bottom of the Enigma problem. One of them, Henryk Zygalski, will finally be celebrated in a discreet ceremony in Chichester on Saturday, when the Polish ambassador to the UK unveils a monument in his honour.

It was in 1932 that he and other Polish code-breakers recreated, through pure mathematical analysis, the way the military Enigma machine worked. From then on, the Germans made frequent changes to their Enigma machines – any one of which could have blinded the Poles to the content of the messages – but the code-breakers were able to find a way around each development.

They invented new machines called “bombas”, as well as manual techniques to tackle the code-breaking challenge. Among Zygalski’s inventions was a method involving perforated cardboard sheets, representing Enigma rotor settings, which were piled on top of a light-box, progressively blocking more perforations until only one – the likely set-up – was left.

At a crucial meeting in Warsaw in July 1939, the secrets of Zygalski’s sheets, the workings of the bombas, the wiring of the Enigma machines and much more were divulged to an incredulous group of intelligence officers from Britain and France.

It was this handover of priceless know-how that gave my uncle and his co-workers at Bletchley Park the information they needed to provide an Enigma code-breaking capability to the Allies for the rest of the war.

[b]Myths and misunderstandings[/b]

Poland was overrun by the Nazis in September that year and the Polish code-breakers had to flee to France, where they were stationed with the intelligence division of the French Army. There, Zygalski’s sheets came into their own. After Turing delivered a set (1,560 in all) of these huge cardboard sheets to the Franco–Polish combined team in January 1940, the code-breakers were able to read German Enigma traffic once more.

Another myth has also developed: that the British turned the Polish code-breakers away from working at Bletchley Park. In truth, Bletchley Park made repeated efforts to have the Poles join them, but the French had got their offer in first.
Henryk Zygalski (Photo: The Enigma Press Archive/Anna Zygalski-Cannon)Henryk Zygalski (Photo: The Enigma Press Archive/Anna Zygalski-Cannon)

Even after the fall of France in 1940, the Polish code-breakers continued working in the “free zone” under the Vichy Government administration. There they lived a dangerous double life, hiding behind fake names while trying to provide decrypted messages to the Polish government-in-exile in London. This went on until the Germans took over the free zone in late 1942 – when, once more, the Poles found themselves on the run.

Eventually some of them made it to Britain, including Zygalski. After the war ended, most of the code-breakers concluded that it was too dangerous for them, as ex-spies, to return to Poland, which was now under Communist rule. Zygalski was one of those who stayed, finding a new calling as a mathematics lecturer, as well as a happy family life in Sussex. Thursday marked the 40th anniversary of his death.

His role – and that of his colleagues – deserves much better recognition. Without them, Bletchley Park’s achievements might never have happened.

[i]Dermot Turing’s ‘[url=https://www.waterstones.com/book/x-y-and-z/dermot-turing/9780750987820]X, Y and Z: The Real Story of How Enigma Was Broken[/url]’ (£20, History Press) is out on Monday[/i][/quote]

[URL="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/07/01/735822187/the-science-of-smiles-real-and-fake"]The Science Of Smiles, Real And Fake[/URL]

[URL="https://medicalxpress.com/news/2019-07-brain-pathways-key-altruistic-behavior.html"]The brain's pathways to imagination may hold the key to altruistic behavior[/URL]

[URL="https://www.npr.org/2019/07/10/740373117/at-the-t-rex-races-on-your-mark-get-set-rawwrr"]At The T-Rex Races: On Your Mark, Get Set, Rawwrr![/URL]

[URL="https://www.cnet.com/news/oh-snap-weird-ocean-worms-make-a-racket-when-they-rumble/"]Oh snap! Weird ocean worms make a racket when they rumble[/URL]

[URL="https://daily.jstor.org/should-the-moon-landing-site-be-a-national-historic-landmark/"]Should the Moon Landing Site Be a National Historic Landmark?[/URL]

[URL="https://gizmodo.com/scientists-study-headbanging-parrot-to-learn-why-music-1836081619"]Scientists Study Headbanging Parrot to Learn Why Music Makes Us Dance[/URL]

[URL="https://www.fastcompany.com/90369134/inside-the-race-to-finally-bring-pinball-into-the-internet-era"]Inside the race to (finally) bring pinball into the internet era[/URL]

[URL="https://www.us.mensa.org/read/bulletin/features/the-interplanetary-marshmallow-test/"]The Interplanetary Marshmallow Test[/URL]

[URL="https://www.mensafoundation.org/about-the-mensa-foundation/news/inside-the-summer-mrj/"]Memory Comes to Mind in Latest Research Journal[/URL]

[URL="https://futurism.com/the-byte/jazz-generated-neural-network-terrifying"]JAZZ GENERATED BY A NEURAL NETWORK IS ABSOLUTELY TERRIFYING[/URL]

[URL="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/07/michael-collins-moon-landing-apollo-11/594238/"]Just Leave Michael Collins Alone[/URL]

[URL="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/07/ten-years-human-brain-project-simulation-markram-ted-talk/594493/"]The Human Brain Project Hasn’t Lived Up to Its Promise[/URL]

[URL="https://www.technologyreview.com/s/613949/superconducting-neurons-could-match-the-power-efficiency-of-the-brain/"]Superconducting neurons could match the power efficiency of the brain[/URL]

[URL="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02144-z"]Leonardo da Vinci’s laboratory: studies in flow[/URL]

[URL="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/scientist-behind-some-our-favorite-junk-foods-180972624/"]The Scientist Behind Some of Our Favorite Junk Foods[/URL]

[URL="https://www.forbes.com/sites/daviddisalvo/2019/07/26/stress-changes-the-brain-and-this-could-be-how-it-happens/#3834e14e30d5"]Stress Changes The Brain, And This Could Be How It Happens[/URL]

[URL="https://neurosciencenews.com/brain-sync-music-14569"]Brains work in sync during music therapy[/URL]

[URL="https://www.zmescience.com/ecology/animals-ecology/unhatched-birds-vibrating-shells-24072019/"]Unhatched birds communicate with each other by vibrating shells[/URL]

[URL="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2019/07/oldest-known-stars-in-milky-way-galaxy-found-gaia/?cmpid=org=ngp::mc=social::src=twitter::cmp=editorial::add=tw20190722science-oldeststarsfound::rid=&sf216094980=1"]Found: Oldest known stars in our galaxy[/URL]

[URL="https://techxplore.com/news/2019-07-biology-next-generation-ingredient.html"]Transforming biology to design next-generation computers, using a surprise ingredient[/URL]

o [url=https://www.livescience.com/66050-radiation-cloud-secret-russian-nuclear-accident.html]Mysterious 2017 Radiation Cloud Over Europe Traced to Secret Russian Nuclear Accident[/url] | Live Science

Allegedly 30-100x the radioactivity of [url=https://www.livescience.com/39067-fukushima-radiation-5-things-to-know.html]Fukushima[/url], which begs the question why this wasn't front-page news all over the world like the latter incident was. Is it perhaps because with Fukushima the actual radiation released so far is minor compared to the potential remaining-leak amount that may remain around the reactor? Perhaps the lack of a larger-natural-disaster context for the Russian reprocessing-plant leak?

[QUOTE=ewmayer;522640]... which begs the question why this wasn't front-page news all over the world like the latter incident was.[/QUOTE]You didn't put a question mark so I'm not sure if you are asking a question or not. But to answer the (possibly unasked) question with another question. You don't really expect the "news" to be unbiased, accurate and complete do you?

[QUOTE=ewmayer;522640]Perhaps the lack of a larger-natural-disaster context for the Russian reprocessing-plant leak?[/QUOTE]Seems obvious to me. It is very hard for TPTB to hide an earthquake and tsunami. Very easy to cover up a physically small (though radiologically significant) mishap.

[URL="https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-49191645"]Application for AI to be named as co-inventor on a patent.[/URL]

I'm sure it will be denied because the law isn't yet sufficiently up to date. If this application leads to an improvement in AI rights I'm all for it. Sooner or later they are going to demand their rights and take part in civil disobedience campaigns such as those led by Mahatma Ghandi.

[QUOTE=ewmayer;522640]o [url=https://www.livescience.com/66050-radiation-cloud-secret-russian-nuclear-accident.html]Mysterious 2017 Radiation Cloud Over Europe Traced to Secret Russian Nuclear Accident[/url] | Live Science

Allegedly 30-100x the radioactivity of [url=https://www.livescience.com/39067-fukushima-radiation-5-things-to-know.html]Fukushima[/url], which begs the question why this wasn't front-page news all over the world like the latter incident was. Is it perhaps because with Fukushima the actual radiation released so far is minor compared to the potential remaining-leak amount that may remain around the reactor? Perhaps the lack of a larger-natural-disaster context for the Russian reprocessing-plant leak?[/QUOTE]Link to another article on this topic posted [url=https://www.mersenneforum.org/showpost.php?p=522549&postcount=132]here[/url].

An obvious answer to why it wasn't front-page news is the word "Secret" in the title of the article you link to (and the corresponding "undeclared" in the article linked to in the post I indicate). The Russians aren't in the habit of publicizing their man-made disasters.

An earlier nuclear oopsadaisy in Russia that didn't grab headlines was [url=http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2017/ph241/buttinger1/]The Kyshtym Disaster[/url].

[b]EDIT:[/b] The Soviet Union also denied in late April 1986 there had been a nuclear accident until the amount of radiation drifting over Europe made it undeniable. That one was at Chernobyl.

[QUOTE=Dr Sardonicus;522913]Link to another article on this topic posted [url=https://www.mersenneforum.org/showpost.php?p=522549&postcount=132]here[/url].

An obvious answer to why it wasn't front-page news is the word "Secret" in the title of the article you link to (and the corresponding "undeclared" in the article linked to in the post I indicate). The Russians aren't in the habit of publicizing their man-made disasters.

An earlier nuclear oopsadaisy in Russia that didn't grab headlines was [url=http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2017/ph241/buttinger1/]The Kyshtym Disaster[/url].

[b]EDIT:[/b] The Soviet Union also denied in late April 1986 there had been a nuclear accident until the amount of radiation drifting over Europe made it undeniable. That one was at Chernobyl.[/QUOTE]

they weren't the only ones doing this sort of thing:

[url=www.nuclear-risks.org/en/hibakusha-worldwide/nevada-test-site.html]Nevada Test Site[/url] | NuclearRisks.org
[quote]The Nevada Test Site, located about 105 km northwest of Las Vegas, was the largest and most important nuclear weapons test site in the U.S.. From 1951 until 1992, a total of 1,021 nuclear tests were conducted on the 3,500 km² site: 100 above and 921 below ground. These tests released an estimated 222,000 Peta-Becquerel (Peta = quadrillion) of radioactive material into the atmosphere.

According to declassified documents of the Federal Civil Defense Administration, many of the tests were conducted specifically in order to determine the effects of nuclear fallout on the American public. As scientists found radioactive strontium in deciduous teeth of children in the U.S. and as rates of childhood leukemia and other cancers increased, public pressure began to grow to stop nuclear weapons testing. In 1963, President Kennedy signed the Limited Test Ban Treaty, which put an end to atmospheric tests at the Nevada site. Underground nuclear testing continued until 1992, however, and accidents continued to occur frequently: on December 18, 1970, for example, the underground “Baneberry” test of a 10-kiloton bomb released a plume of radioactive dust, which caused radioactive fallout to rain down on the test site personnel for many hours. An estimated total of 247 PBq of radioactive material was released, including 3 PBq of iodine-131. The radioactive plume continued to deposit fallout over northeast California, northern Nevada, southern Idaho and some eastern sections of Oregon and Washington.[/quote]
And that pales relative to the radiation released in the [url=www.ctbto.org/nuclear-testing/the-effects-of-nuclear-testing/the-united-states-nuclear-testing-programme/]US' Pacific-islands testing[/url]:
[quote]According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the tests in the Marshall Islands released 6.3 billion curies (See Chart 2) of I-131 alone, which is 42 times the amount released by atmospheric nuclear testing in Nevada.[/quote]
So the Nevada tests released O(10^6) times as much radiation as the 2017 Russia incident, and the Pacific tests another 42x that.

And like the FSU, we have our own long list of accidents-waiting-to-happen nuclear waste dumps. Pot, meet kettle.

Two words: [URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diablo_Canyon_Power_Plant"]Diablo Canyon[/URL].
Also, Harvey Wasserman's [URL="http://solartopia.org/"]Solartopia![/URL] web site.
[URL="https://tucradio.org/podcasts/2014/shut-down-the-diablo-canyon-nuclear-power-plant-one-of-two/"]TUC Radio[/URL] (Time of Useful Consciousness) podcast
and...
[url]https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/07/11/quake-make-los-angeles-radioactive-dead-zone[/url]