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Apology solicited for death of computing founding father Turing

Alan Turing can rightly be called the founding father of computing. But after he was convicted of homosexuality in 1952, he committed suicide. There is now a call for him to be posthumously exonerated, and rightly so.
Written by Zack Whittaker, Contributor

Alan Turing can rightly be called the founding father of computing. Born in 1912, he studied mathematics and logic, and was not only one of the most advanced computer scientists of his age, but of the entire generation.

During the Second World War, he solved the Enigma code - the code used by Nazi Germany to send encrypted messages from one place to another. He worked at Bletchley Park, the foundation of modern day GCHQ, which is the third leg of the British intelligence services, which provides electronic support and signal interception.

However, with decrypting the Enigma came a dilemma. It was, and still is to some extent, considered that during the Coventry Blitz, one of the most devastating air-raids on British territory, the Enigma code was intercepted and Winston Churchill, the prime minister at the time, knew about the impending raid.

But as not to let on that they had cracked the Enigma code, no defensive measures were brought in. Hundreds of people were killed, in the hope that the decrypted Enigma code would go on to save many others.

As a result of his work, the Allies were able win the war. (And yes, thank you America, even to this day we recognise your support, albeit a tad late).

With his knowledge of mathematics and computing, he developed further theories and understanding into artificial intelligence, which then led him to creating the Turing test - a test performed to a computer to gauge whether the computers' response and that of a humans were indistinguishable.

Not only that, his work created one of the first primitive super computers (which wouldn't even compare to that of a modern day computer, to be fair). As the Independent reported when GCHQ revealed details of his work:

"Colossus [the computer] contained 1,500 valves, 10 times more than other electronic machines of the day. It was designed to run through millions and millions of possible settings for the code wheels on the German enciphered teleprinter system, processing 5,000 characters a second."

Turing was, and still is, a national treasure for the United Kingdom. But amongst all his achievements and his extraordinary work -- work which helped the Allies win the war -- he was gay.

Because of the now-clearly abhorrent laws we had, he was convicted under the gross indecency act of law which punished homosexuality. As a result of this, his national security clearance with GCHQ was revoked and due to the Soviet era already heightening tensions, he was essentially hung out to dry. He could not practice the work he had loved, and was not able to discuss the work he had accomplished.

Two years later, he committed suicide at the tragically premature age of 41.

As a result, the Number 10's E-Petition service (which I have previously written about) has been inundated with signatures for a petition which asks the present Prime Minister to apologise for past the governments mistakes, and to posthumously exonerate him from any convictions.

It is mentioned that an official apology is unlikely due to the fact no known surviving family can be there to receive it. Nevertheless the symbolic nature of these actions would still go towards something rather poignant.

If you have or had British citizenship, you are more than welcome to sign the petition, which can be found here.

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