There are always people behind various technologies in the world of Information Technology (IT). The humans behind this technology are often hailed as heroes, because what they do may have changed the direction of development of the world at large.
Like the stories of heroes, not everything ends with 'happy ever after'. Here are the stories of four IT figures who are quite legendary but have a sad side as collected by us from various sources:
Alan Turing
Turing, whose full name is Alan Mathison Turing, is a British crypto-analyst and computer scientist who has played a major role in the development of the world's computers. Turing's heyday was during World War II, when he even had time to head a unit tasked specifically with analyzing and cracking German ciphers.
Achievement: Turing's name became a legend through a concept called the Turing Machine. The concept of algorithms and computing is even, according to Time magazine, is the foundation of all computers in the world. Turing became immortal through the Turing Test, a test to prove whether a computer system is capable of 'thinking' by comparing computer answers with human answers to a series of questions.
Tragedy: Turing has a same-sex sexual orientation. During his lifetime, homosexuality was forbidden in England. As a result, in order to escape prison, Turing underwent therapy with hormones and chemicals. In 1954 Turing was found dead of cyanide poisoning, he is said to have committed suicide.
Charles Babbage
Charles Babbage was an English aristocrat who lived in the 19th century. He was an expert in mathematics, mechanical engineering and philosophy. Babbage is also known as an inventor.
Achievement: Babbage arguably the first person to spawn the concept of a programmable computer. Not only concepts, Babbage also tried to make machines that could prove the concepts he expressed. Amazingly, a machine made with limited technical capabilities in the 19th century was supposed to be the forerunner of computers.
Tragedy: Unfortunately, Babbage was never able to complete the machine. That said, Babbage's ambition about the machine beyond his own ability. Not to mention Babbage's personality, which is told that he tends to fluctuate, making him always switch from one project to another.
Dani Bunten
Dani Bunten (Danielle Bunten Berry / Daniel Paul Bunten) is a game designer who thrived in the 1980s. His name is often associated with game legend Sid Meier because it is said that Dani had the opportunity to work on the Civilization game that catapulted Meier's name.
Achievements: Dani Bunten achieved success through a game titled M.U.L.E in the 1980s. This game is one of the early successful multiplayer games and is widely used as a reference for subsequent games. Another Bunten game that is quite famous is The Seven Cities of Gold.
Tragedy: After three failed marriages as a man, Bunten finally chose to live as a woman. He even had sex surgery, which he later regretted. Bunten died in 1998 after being diagnosed with lung cancer, he had not yet had time to finish the internet version of the M.U.L.E game.
Joybubbles
Joybubbles, born Joe Engressia, was a pioneer in the world of hacking. He was born blind and has the ability to listen and voice notes perfectly.
Achievements: Joybubbles is a pioneer of phreaking, aka breaking into telephone networks to make phone calls without paying. At that time he was able to do so by whistling a special note on the receiver. Joe's ability is then followed by Captain Crunch (Jon Draper) by using a whistle to reward a cereal product.
Tragedy: The legend of Joybubbles is accompanied by a somber tale of an unhappy and tortured childhood. Joe overcame this trauma by creating the Church of Eternal Childhood, legally changing his name to Joybubbles and declaring his age as 5 forever.
The last days of his life were spent in a small, lightless apartment filled with telephone sets, stuffed animals, old records and plastic toys