Alan Turing

Alan Turing, born in June 1912, was an English mathematician, who is widely considered to be the father of computer science and artificial intelligence (AI). Turing was a homosexual man, in a time when homosexuality was a criminal offence in the UK. His work during World War II helped to shorten the war and save countless lives, which makes him an LGBTQ+ hero. A statue of him sits in Sackville Gardens in Manchester’ s Gay Village.

One of Turning’s most significant achievements was cracking the ‘Enigma’ code. In 1939, he took up a full-time role at Bletchley Park, carrying out work deciphering the military codes used by Germany and its allies. Turing famously cracked the Enigma code by mechanising subtle logical deductions to develop his more powerful ‘Bombe’ machine. From mid-1940, German Air Force signals could be read, and by late 1940, the machine was decoding all messages sent by the Enigma machines. By early 1942, around 39,000 intercepted messages were decoded each month, by 1943, this rose to over 84,000 which works out to around two every minute.

Alan Turing’s code work is credited with shortening the war by at least two years, helping result in the Allied victory and saving an estimated 14 million lives. Turing was awarded an OBE in 1945 by King George VI for his services to the country, yet his work in cracking the Enigma code was kept secret until the 1970s, with the full story not known until the 1990s.

On 23rd January 1952, Turing's house was burgled. He reported the crime to the police, and during the investigation, he acknowledged a sexual relationship with Arnold Murray. Homosexual acts were criminal offences in the UK at that time and both men were charged with gross indecency under Section 11 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885. Turing was convicted and given a choice between imprisonment or probation. His probation would be conditional on his agreement to undergo hormonal physical changes designed to reduce libido, also known as chemical castration. He accepted the option of injections of a synthetic oestrogen. This continued for the course of a year, which rendered him impotent. Turing's conviction also led to the removal of his security clearance and barred him from continuing with his consultancy for the Government Communications Headquarters.

By Haydn Rothwell

Sadly, Turing's housekeeper found him dead, on 8th June 1954 at the age of 41. Cyanide poisoning was established as the cause of death as when his body was discovered, an apple lay half-eaten beside his bed. Although the apple was not tested for cyanide, it was speculated that this was how Turing had consumed a fatal dose. An inquest determined his death to be a suicide. Turing's remains were cremated at Woking Crematorium and his ashes were scattered in the gardens of the crematorium.

In 2013, Turing received a posthumous royal pardon, almost 60 years after his conviction for gross indecency. The pardon was granted under the Royal Prerogative of Mercy after a request by Justice Minister Chris Grayling, with it coming into effect on the 24th December, following years of campaigning from Turing’s supporters. In 2016, the government was committed to introducing the “Alan Turing Law”, through an amendment to the Policing and Crime Bill, which would pardon thousands of gay men convicted under historic gross indecency crimes for consensual same-sex relationships. Weeks after the 50th anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall riots in 2019, Alan Turing become the new face of the £50 note, to celebrate his revolutionary works with computers.