Alan Turing finally gets his pardon

OJCade · Dec 23, 2013

And about damn time too. It's an absolute disgrace it hasn't happened sooner, although it's only a sop really, given the poor guy killed himself 50+ years ago. Kudos to the scientists who kept pushing for the pardon, against all odds.

He was the father of modern computing whose work on the Enigma code at Bletchley Park is said to have shortened the Second World War.

But he was also gay and in those less enlightened times was chemically castrated by an ungrateful nation after being convicted of "gross indecency" with a man in 1952.

Now, nearly 60 years after his suicide from cyanide poisoning at the age of 41, Alan Turing has been officially pardoned by the Queen under the little-known Royal Prerogative of Mercy.

More at the link.

Plot Device · Dec 23, 2013

The Enigma was central to the famous Hollywood film U-571 (a film which inaccurately depicted Americans as the heroes and not the British).

And the Allies' cracking of the Enigma was said by The History Channel to be "their greatest breakthrough."

http://www.history.com/videos/wwii-spy-strategy#wwii-spy-strategy

Too bad the shortening of the war was so quickly forgotten.

ZachJPayne · Dec 23, 2013

It's about damn time.

poetinahat · Dec 23, 2013

I wonder how long before he pardons them.

Zoombie · Dec 24, 2013

Turing is why when I meet people slagging on homosexuality, I take great joy in pointing out that if it weren't for a gay man, they'd all be speaking German.

Yes, it is slightly overselling Turing's accomplishments, but fuck it, it's good line.

Alessandra Kelley · Dec 24, 2013

What the ingrates in the British government did to Alan Turing is one of my rage-o-meter issues.

It's long past time for this, and I hope they damned well remember it the next time someone from a socially unacceptable group hauls their backsides out of armageddon.

EDIT: The war thing is a huge deal, but don't forget his mathematical and computer genius. If Turing had not been hounded to his death who knows how far and how fast computers might have developed, with the UK at the lead.

Alessandra Kelley · Dec 24, 2013

And what about the 50,000+ other British men who were convicted of exactly the same thing as Turing, many of whom were also given the same barbarous pseudo-medical treatment.

Do they get pardons?

Unlike Turing, many of them are still alive and could benefit from it.

It would be nice to see if the UK government actually means to rectify this injustice.

ellio · Dec 24, 2013

Oh my, how noble and considerate.
Pfffffffffffffff

slhuang · Dec 24, 2013

I'll echo the "it's about damn time." Now ffs, can we please stop straightwashing him in movies already! :rant:

Also related, from the second link:

The Liberal Democrat peer Lord Sharkey put forward a private member’s bill earlier this month supporting a statutory pardon for Turing. The bill is expected to undergo a third reading at the end of October.

Yet, last year the government refused to grant pardons to 49,000 gay men, now dead, who were also convicted under the 1885 Criminal Amendment Act. That number included Oscar Wilde, who also had a heterosexual relationship during his lifetime - with his wife Constance.

Lovely.

Alessandra Kelley · Dec 24, 2013

slhuang said:
I'll echo the "it's about damn time." Now ffs, can we please stop straightwashing him in movies already!

We just watched the Doctor Who episode "The Curse of Fenric" in which the Turing character is made into a man in a wheelchair upset and conflicted about his disability. Reportedly, there was an implied past relationship between him and another man which was written out of the final script.

OJCade · Dec 24, 2013

Alessandra Kelley said:
EDIT: The war thing is a huge deal, but don't forget his mathematical and computer genius. If Turing had not been hounded to his death who knows how far and how fast computers might have developed, with the UK at the lead.

It might not have been that much different. So much that happened at Bletchley Park was indicted under the Official Secrets Act - that's why for a long time ENIAC got credit for being the first electronic, programmable computer instead of Colossus.

When WW2 ended, Churchill ordered all the Colossi but two (Tommy Flowers' invention, not Turing's, but done under his auspices) broken down to "pieces no bigger than a fist". And Flowers was made to burn all the blueprints, something which he regretted immensely. I'm not sure how Turing could have stopped all that, but his brain was surely not worth wasting.

Reveen · Dec 24, 2013

slhuang said:
Also related, from the second link.

Lovely.

So how exactly are we supposed to interpret that? I mean, if they wrung their hands and went "oh, it'd be too hard and costly to process blah blah" But with the only reason I can think of for a straight refusal is that enough of them actually think these convictions and punishments should be upheld.

Announcing the change of heart, the Justice Secretary Chris Grayling said Turing deserved to be "remembered and recognised for his fantastic contribution to the war effort" and not for his later criminal conviction.

"A pardon from the Queen is a fitting tribute to an exceptional man."

I mean, if the reason they pardoned Turing is more because of his contribution against the Nazis and less because they recognize that the conviction was wrong then was there really a victory here?

slhuang · Dec 24, 2013

Reveen said:
But with the only reason I can think of for a straight refusal is that enough of them actually think these convictions and punishments should be upheld. [...] I mean, if the reason they pardoned Turing is more because of his contribution against the Nazis and less because they recognize that the conviction was wrong then was there really a victory here?

qft.

"A pardon from the Queen is a fitting tribute to an exceptional man."

Tribute??? TRIBUTE??? How about, "long overdue miscarriage of justice!"

Infuriating.

Still waiting for all those other people to be pardoned.

Alan Turing finally gets his pardon

OJCade

Plot Device

A woman said to write like a man.

ZachJPayne

Beware: #amQuerying

poetinahat

say it loud

Zoombie

Dragon of the Multiverse

Alessandra Kelley

Sophipygian

Alessandra Kelley

Sophipygian

ellio

a hardback life on an ebook budget

slhuang

Inappropriately math-oriented.

Alessandra Kelley

Sophipygian

OJCade

Reveen

slhuang

Inappropriately math-oriented.