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How has Alan Turing's legacy affected lives of those queer and not queer?

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How has Alan Turing's legacy affected lives of those queer and not queer?

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Alan Turing was born in June 1912 and died June 1954. He was a prominent figure in history for his computational achievements and codebreaking during WWII. He is regarded as one of the biggest influences in theoretical computer science. His work helped shape the foundations of modern computing. Most human computers back then were legitimately women who performed mathematical computations before electronic calculators were invented. Turing invented the Turing machine, a model device that simulates computer algorithms. Nearly everyone in the present day is affected by his work. For instance, in a sort of butterfly effect, Turing's computational work helped the basics of Oppenheimer's Manhattan Project. However, while Turing and Oppenheimer were both instrumental in shortening WWII, they weren't in direct contact. One of Turing's most famous accomplishments was cracking the Enigma code, which was used by the Germans to send messages. Most articles I found were (understandably) posthumous details of Turing's life considering he died in 1954. I appreciated the virtual version of the book Alan Turing: The Enigma by Andrew Hodges because there was a whole page dedicated to primary sources. The book also inspired the movie The Imitation Game, starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Alan Turing. This goes to show that Turing's legacy is one of those that brings about film adaptations.

Because most of the reporting on Alan Turing's work is posthumous, it's understandable that his queer legacy is as well. He wasn't necessarily an activist, but him being gay ultimately spurred some real change such as the "Turing Law." He was arrested in 1952 for gross indecency with another man and pleaded guilty. Arnold Murray, the 19-year-old man from Manchester who Turing had homosexual relations with, was given a conditional discharge, meaning he escaped jail on certain circumstances. Turing, however, was sentenced to chemical castration and was forced to take estrogen in order to reduce his libido. This is a harsh punishment that relates back to what we discussed in a previous unit about early queer resistance and queer life. Turing endured this pharmacological abuse because of the British government's rejection of homosexuality. In today's society, we are much more inclusive and less discriminatory towards gay men than mid 1900s London. So, while Turing wasn't necessarily an activist during his time alive, it makes sense that when we look back at his work, we usually attach his identity to it as part of his legacy. Most articles remembering Turing are part of some sort of "LGBTQ" section or series to honor both his contributions and sexuality.

Alan Turing's legacy teaches us that a historical figure like himself can be celebrated for everything he achieved in his lifetime, despite the discrimination he experienced back then. Not only was he known for his genius accomplishments in computer science and codebreaking, but his gay identity made lasting impressions in society and the British government. By creating the foundations of modern computing, his work has inspired many people in the technological industry. By getting arrested for being gay, he has also inspired many people who are queer.

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Alan Turing's trial Charges and sentences, 31 March 1952 - primary source

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Alan Turing's trial Charges and sentences, 31 March 1952 - primary source

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This is a primary source in the form of a picture of the official record of charges, pleas, and sentences passed on Turing and Arnold Murray. They pled guilty for gross indecency with another male. While Murray was given a conditional discharge, Turing underwent chemical castration. The website this source is from is a virtual version of the book Alan Turing: The Enigma by Andrew Hodges.

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Scientific Article About Turing's Legacy in AI

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Scientific Article About Turing's Legacy in AI

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This is a scientific article first published in 2023 discussing Turing's impact in today's technological world. It explores his ideas in relation to modern ideas of artificial intelligence, sociology, and ethics. This article connects his invention of the Turing machine (replacing human computers) with artificial intelligence today. Turing's work is extremely important and affects nearly everyone because of his concepts of the modern computer.

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Turing was important enough to be included in a series of obituaries about people whose deaths were unreported in The New York Times. This obituary revisits what Turing was known for and at what times. He was most known for breaking the Enigma during WWII, but other significant events included his invention of the Turing machine, his arrest for homosexual acts, and his apparent suicide death.

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Overlooked No More: Alan Turing, Condemned Code Breaker and Computer Visionary (Published 2019)

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His ideas led to early versions of modern computing and helped win World War II. Yet he died as a criminal for his homosexuality.

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This article emphasizes that Turing's queer legacy is posthumous. He was arrested for gross indecency with another male and died in 1954. He received a posthumous pardon in 2013 that was controversial due to some people believing the action was more of an afterthought as opposed to a sincere apology. Others believed it was sufficient recognition for his contributions. The "Alan Turing Law" is an amnesty law passed in 2017 that allows pardons for men convicted of acts that are no longer offenses.

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Anyone living who has been convicted of such offences could already apply through the Home Office to have the offence wiped from their criminal records.

But now, if the Home Office agrees that the offence is no longer an offence under current law, they will automatically be pardoned.

Justice Minister Sam Gyimah said it was "hugely important that we pardon people convicted of historical sexual offences who would be innocent of any crime today".

Lord Sharkey said he understood why some people may not want a pardon, or may "feel that it's wrong".

But, he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme, "a pardon is probably the best way of acknowledging the real harm done by the unjust and cruel homophobic laws, which thankfully we've now repealed. And I do hope that a lot of people will feel exactly the same way".

He said of the 65,000 men convicted under the laws, 15,000 are still alive.

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'Alan Turing law': Thousands of gay men to be pardoned

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Thousands of gay and bisexual men convicted of now-abolished sexual offences are to receive posthumous pardons - a victory for campaigners for an "Alan Turing law".

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Turing is First Gay Man on a British Bank Note

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Turing is First Gay Man on a British Bank Note

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In 2021, Turing became the first gay man to appear on a British bank note. He graces the backside of the Bank of England £50 note. This is another posthumous celebration of Turing and recognition of his impact. In the article, Sarah John, Bank of England's chief cashier, says that she is excited for the change and acknowledges how the country previously failed him during his time.

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The Bank of England began circulating its new £50 bank notes featuring World War II codebreaker Alan Turing on Wednesday, which would have been the pioneering math genius' 109th birthday.

Often referred to as the "father of computer science and artificial intelligence," Turing was hailed a war hero and granted an honor by King George VI at the end of the war for helping to defeat the Nazis. Despite this, however, he died as a disgraced "criminal" - simply for being a gay man.

"I'm delighted that Alan Turing features on our new £50 bank note. He was a brilliant scientist whose thinking still shapes our lives today," Sarah John, Bank of England's chief cashier, told NBC News. "However, his many contributions to society were still not enough to spare him the appalling treatment to which he was subjected simply because he was gay. By placing him on this new £50, we are celebrating his life and his achievements, of which we should all be very proud."

Born in London on June 23, 1912, Turing graduated from the University of Cambridge in 1934. At the start of WWII, he joined the British government's wartime operation, designing a code-breaking machine known as "Bombe." Bombe went on to supply the Allied Forces with significant military intelligence, processing, at its peak, 89,000 coded messages per day.

At the end of the war, Turing was made an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, an honor granted by the royal family to a selected few for their contribution to science, arts and public service.

In the years that followed, Turing carried on working as a computer scientist. His design for the Automatic Computing Engine, or ACE, would have been the first and most advanced computer for his time. But his colleagues at the National Physical Laboratory feared the engineering was too complex and decided to build a much smaller pilot ACE instead. Their competitors at Manchester University consequently won the race, and the disheartened Turing had joined their forces as deputy director. Turing also wrote the first programming manual.

"What we really don't realize is how this moment and Turing's vision changed the entire world. Before this, literally nobody in the world had imagined that a single machine could apply countless strings of abstract symbols. Now we know them as programs," according to David Leslie of the Alan Turing Institute.

But being an outstanding computer scientist and a war hero didn't spare Turing from what some have called a "witch hunt" of gay and bisexual men in the U.K., which led to the imprisonment of thousands of gay men and those suspected of being gay throughout the 1950s.

In January 1952, Turing was prosecuted for indecency over his relationship with another man in Manchester. Despite being referred to as a "national asset" during this trial by character witness Hugh Alexander, the head of cryptanalysis at the Government Communications Headquarter, Turing was persecuted.

In March of that year, Turing pleaded guilty and, to avoid imprisonment, had to agree to be chemically castrated by taking a hormonal treatment designed to suppress his libido.

His criminal record disqualified him from working for a governmental intelligence agency. Disgraced and disenfranchised, he took his own life by cyanide poisoning June 8, 1954, in his home in Manchester. He was 41.

Homosexuality was decriminalized in the U.K. more than a decade later June 14, 1967.

Despite his tragic end, Turing's legacy as a wartime hero and the father of computer science has lived on, and the British government has attempted to right its past wrongs. In 2009, more than a half century after Turing's death, then-British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, speaking on behalf of the government, publicly apologized for Turing's "utterly unfair" treatment. In 2013, Queen Elizabeth II granted Turing a royal pardon.

Featuring him on a £50 bank note marks another milestone. This is the first time that a gay man is featured on a British bank note. It has been welcomed by parts of the LGBTQ community as a symbol of the country facing up to its dark past of the horrific persecution of gay men.

This visionary computer and artificial intelligence pioneer, once criminalized and disgraced, is now widely celebrated. In Turing's own words from 1949: "This is only a foretaste of what is to come, and only the shadow of what is going to be."

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WWII codebreaker Alan Turing becomes 1st gay man on a British bank note

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The Bank of England began circulating its new £50 bank notes featuring World War II codebreaker Alan Turing on Wednesday, which would have been the