Alan Turing committed suicide in Wilmslow, Cheshire, UK. He died by ingesting an apple poisoned with potassium cyanide, in keeping with his eccentric nature and inspired by the Snow White fairy tale he had loved since childhood. His mother claimed that her son, with dirty fingers from some chemical experiment, had accidentally ingested the fatal dose of poison; but the official verdict was unequivocal: “Cause of death: self-administered potassium cyanide in a state of mental derangement.” Speculation in Sadie Plant’s book Zeroes and Ones suggested that the Apple Inc. logo was a tribute to Alan Turing; however, the company has never confirmed or denied this claim.
