Alan Turing is a name often associated with the British
man who was a mathematical genius, a key in the defeat of the Nazis in World
War II. This same man was later chemically castrated for having homosexual
relations and poisoned himself 2 years after. 59 years have passed, but in late
December 2013 Turing received royal pardon from Queen Elizabeth II. Normally
when a royal pardon is given the person at hand is innocent or the family
requests it. Turing's conviction was not met with regards to any of these
conditions. In July 2012, a bill was proposed to the House of Lords and passed
three readings. Before the bill could reach the House of Commons the British
Government decided to agree to the petition. Turning was granted pardon for his
conviction of gross indecency. This took immediate effect.
Alan Mathison Turing was born in London at
the early start of the 20th century. His intelligence was quite
notable and was recognized early on by his instructors. Turing’s focus was
solely dedicated to math and science. This created controversy at the school he
attended as it focused heavily on the classical studies. Despite this he
continued to advance independently with his studies outside of school. Alan
Turing relished in the idea that he could solve and grasp complex problems.
Since his youth it was obvious Turing thought like a scientist.
After being educated as a undergraduate at
King’s College Turing went on to earn his PhD from Princeton. After Princeton,
he returned to Cambridge and began his work with the Government Code and Cypher
School. The GC&CS created an extensive cryptanalytic facility that became
essential in World War II. Turing was a key code breaker in the cryptanalysis
of the Enigma, created by the Axis powers, specifically Germany. He deduced the
indicator procedure used by the German navy and created a portable and secure
voice scrambler codenamed Delilah. These are a few of many advanced aided by
Turing which resulted in the defeat of the German Nazis.
In 1946 Turing worked with the design of the
Automatic Computing Engine (ACE) and even came up with his own revised design.
In 1948 Turing was appointed a principal lecturer in the department of
mathematics at the University of Manchester. In 1949 he started to work on
software for the Manchester Mark 1. This was one of the earliest stored-program
computers. During this time Turing began to work in the field of abstract
mathematics. He developed his own experiment, which became known as the Turing
Test. This experiment tested the issue of artificial intelligence. The Turing
test was the idea that if a computer could fool a human into thinking it too
was a human, the machine could “think”. A reversed form of this test is used
widely online.
About 3 years later, Turing formed a
romantic relationship with a man named Arnold Murray. Through the result of a
burglary the police acknowledged that Turing and Murray were romantically together
and both men were arrested. At this time homosexuality was against the law.
Turing felt no guilt for having a relationship with Murray and pleaded guilty. He
agreed to undergo chemical castration as punishment. He was not allowed to
continue his job with GC&CS, but was granted his job as an educator. 2
years after Turing was convicted his cleaner found him dead. It has been
confirmed that the cause of death was cyanide poisoning. It is suspected he
purposefully consumed an apple laced with cyanide in order to end his life.
Turing has received much recognition for his
work breaking the German enigma code and creating new programs. He was a
remarkable man whose brilliant mind saved countless lives. The mathematical genius
created the basis of modern computing. Not only was he in standing for a well
deserved pardon, but he deserves to be remembered and recognized for his immense
contribution to science.
