Alan Turing, the father of computing and condemned for being gay ... - The World

Figure mathematician Alan Turing, the father of modern computing and the key British victory in World War cracking the “unbreakable” Nazi Enigma code man, has finally received a royal pardon trying to amend his criminal conviction for being homosexual, a fact that led him to suicide .

electromechanical Turing machine, considered a forerunner of modern computers, managed to unlock the code used by German submarines in the Atlantic. His work at Bletchley Park is considered key to the end of World War II.

However, Turing was fired from his job and was subjected to chemical castration by injections of female hormones after being convicted of having sex with a man , an offense considered serious in 1952. In fact, homosexual acts were illegal in the UK until 1967.

Turing committed suicide in 1954, aged 41, after ingesting cyanide .

British Justice Minister, Chris Grayling , said the pardon of Queen Elizabeth comes into effect immediately, as tribute to “an exceptional man with a brilliant mind.” “His brilliance was tested at Bletchley Park during the Second World War, which was essential to break the code ‘Enigma’, which helped to end the war and save thousands of lives ” Grayling said in a statement.

Nazi machine decryption codes. itemprop=”provider” EM

“His later life was overshadowed by his conviction for homosexual activity, a judgment now consider unfair and discriminatory and which has now been repealed” , he said. Only four royal pardons have been granted since the end of World War II, said a ministry spokesman.

Stephen Hawking and 10 other eminent scientists had campaigned for years for a pardon for “one of the most brilliant mathematicians of the modern era.” In fact, one of those scientists, Paul Nurse , president of the Royal Society, said: “The prosecution of this great British scientist by his sexuality was tragic and I am delighted that we can now focus solely on the celebration of his legacy. “

In 2009, then Prime Minister Gordon Brown publicly apologized on behalf of the government for “the appalling way” in which Turing was treated, but activists demanded a full pardon.

Another image of Alan Turing EM

In May 2012, an initiative was presented to the House of Lords in the British Parliament seeks to give a legal pardon Turing, and in July this year won the support of the government.

Turing Cameron has described as “an extraordinary man who played a key role that saved this country suffering in the Second World War.” “His action saved countless lives and also left an extraordinary national legacy through his major scientific achievements, so often referred to as the father of modern computing,” Cameron said in a statement.

His work at Bletchley Park, a country house isolated north London, was made public in the 1970s, when the role of the brilliant mathematician in the war was revealed. Cryptographers who worked helped shorten World War II about two years to achieve decoding around 3,000 German daily military messages.

team Turing cracked the code ‘Enigma’, which the Germans regarded as unbreakable, and designed and developed Colossus, one of the first programmable computer.

But after the war, Prime Minister Winston Churchill ordered the destruction of the Colossus computers and 200 machines ‘Turing bombe’ to keep them secret from the Soviet Union.