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mdehnersBritain Is Very Sorry for Firing, Castrating WWII Computer Genius Alan Turing
In August, Queerty asked, "Will Britain Apologize For Convicting This Computer Nerd of Homosexuality?" It turns out, yes!
Alan Turing, the computer code breaker-hacker-mathematician person whose mad skillz were applied during World War II to fight the Nazzzis, has received a formal apology from the United Kingdom and Prime Minister Gordon Brown, which terminated him in 1952 for "gross indecency." Punishment? Prison, or the option Turing took: chemical castration. Two years later, he killed himself. That was 53 years ago.
At the time, Winston Churchill hailed Turing "with making the biggest single contribution to the Allied victory in World War II." And in 2009, gays and computer nerds launched a petition, eventually growing to 30,000 signatures, to call for an official apology.
It's a posthumous way of saying: Sorry we ruined the life of a brilliant man 'cause he liked other dudes. Well, it's … something? But certainly not everything; the critics are already hopping mad with Brown...
In August, Queerty asked, "Will Britain Apologize For Convicting This Computer Nerd of Homosexuality?" It turns out, yes!
Alan Turing, the computer code breaker-hacker-mathematician person whose mad skillz were applied during World War II to fight the Nazzzis, has received a formal apology from the United Kingdom and Prime Minister Gordon Brown, which terminated him in 1952 for "gross indecency." Punishment? Prison, or the option Turing took: chemical castration. Two years later, he killed himself. That was 53 years ago.
At the time, Winston Churchill hailed Turing "with making the biggest single contribution to the Allied victory in World War II." And in 2009, gays and computer nerds launched a petition, eventually growing to 30,000 signatures, to call for an official apology.
It's a posthumous way of saying: Sorry we ruined the life of a brilliant man 'cause he liked other dudes. Well, it's … something? But certainly not everything; the critics are already hopping mad with Brown...
