Alan Mathison Turing (1912-1954) was a cryptanalyst and computer scientist who worked at the Bletchley Park code-breaking centre during the Second World War. He devised the machine that worked out the algorithms to which the german enigma machines had been set, so that the allies could decode message ciphers. Without him, its a fair bet to say that Britain would've lost the war.
Turing's homosexuality resulted in a criminal prosecution in 1952 and he was treated with female hormones and chemical castration.
Two years later, Turing died from an allegedly self-administered cyanide overdose in an apple.
Since his death, Turing's heroic status has been recognised in a variety of different capacities, Manchester University named a building after him, and unveiled a statue in memorial of him in Sackville Park off Canal Street. Kings' College Cambridge named their Computer Department after possibly their most valuable alumnus, and there are numerous awards worldwide that are named after Turing. The logo of the 'apple' company (ipods, ipads and macbooks, not Beatles records) is supposed to pay homage to Alan Turing as a pionerring computer scientist, with the bitemark as a nod towards his suicide but the company denies these claims. In 2009, Gordon Brown acknowledged a petition to apologise for the British Government's treating of Turing as a homosexual.
Tuesday, 9 February 2010
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3 comments:
Love the pic of the Pope! A particularly provocative intervention by the pontiff during LGBTQ History Month. I well recall the news item when it first broke: **!!**! …..And particularly relevant for my own interests: religious attitudes towards homosexuality.
To keep up to date with such matters, you could do worse than set your alarm for 7 a.m. every Sunday to listen to R.4’s ‘Sunday’ programme. You can guarantee there will be an item on religious homophobia - oh, I mean homosexuality the sin, not the sinner of course! Has anyone ever seen homosexuality flying around without a person attached to it? Its possible apparently. And then if you are a real early bird, you can tune into the World Service which has some excellent religious programmes daytime as well of course if you have digital radio.
Back to Ben. Its such a good post, because it perfectly illustrates the level of impunity afforded religions to attack LGBT people. Goodness, the man is a guest; is he not even aware of common politeness? Likewise the attitudes of the Anglican and R.C church towards the appointment of women to bishoprics - yes that is the word - and the misogynistic gorging which accompanied the run-up to the acceptance of women priests. A curse on all your houses I say!
Good for you Mark for linking a current topic with history - also an interest of mine. The persecution of homosexuals has been going on since Time Immemorial and will continue to do so unless we, at least, support LGBTQ History Month. Sandra
Apologies for posting Pope comment here! I am an Absolute Blogging Beginner!
Now I would like to comment on Alan Mathison Turing, a man who only came to my notice when Gordon Brown recognised in 2009 his contributions - outlined in the post - and apologised for the treatment he had received as a homosexual. I remember being deeply moved by Brown's statement - apologies in relation to former 'state crimes' are somewhat controversial, but I for one believe they have an important role to play. The restoration of peoples who have experienced mass persecution is vital in order to stem the tide of continuing discrimination. And I include homosexuals in this category. Homosexual men, and women, have been given 'treatment' for their sexuality- and still are - throughout history, and such treatment is 'freely offered' in some markets today.
Thankyou Mark for drawing our attention to this important man in LGBTQ History. Sandra
http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1904#comic
This webcomic rather concisely sums up the arguments for and against Alan Turing's chemical castration in 1952
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