WW2 Codebreaker Alan Turing - great news!

[Woolgar]

He should be given a posthumous Knighthood IMO

Enigma codebreaker Alan Turing receives royal pardon | Science | The Guardian

Nick

[big ned]

Alan Turing was made an example of due to his sexual orientation at a time when the Cambridge spy ring was causing great problems and mass panic for MI5 and the security services. With the likes of Burgess, Mclean, Philby, Cairncross and Blunt running around behaving like characters from Brideshead Revisited, they quickly fell pray to Soviet spies either through blackmail/money or left wing sympathies/ beliefs. The damage done over nearly 20 years was incalculable at a time when the Cold War could have turned hot at anytime.

Therefore it was unsuprising that Turing was swept up into the situation due to his highly sensitive position in the Enigma code breaking and his charcter having a whiff of lavender about it. He was compromised, and therefore the weight and moral opprobrium of the government and secret services was unleashed upon him. He became an outcast and sadly commited suicide over the treatment he received, both mental and physical, as there was an attempt to chemically castrate him amongst the other indignities heaped upon him.

I doubt that he will be awarded a posthumous knighthood, that would be a first I think, But the pardon he has received today is a unique one in that the usual criteria of having one considered and then granted is unprecedented in that they are normally awarded after a request from an interested party, such as family, and proven evidence of innocence. Neither of these requirements have been met.

I believe todays pardon has more to do with political correctness than any general will by the governmental departments concerned to allow it, at the time he was correctly convicted of an unlawful act by the law of the day, that is fact. Personally I have no problem with the pardon, in todays more enlightened times it would not happen, but the facts at the time over 60 years ago when the events occured are unequivocal, and that in this case the law took it's course, no matter how tragic the consequences were.

Let's hope that this now ends the matter, as beyond getting Turing beatified, nothing more can be done other than say, putting up a statue or two. What's done is done and it's time to move on.

Regards, Ned.

[Jerry B]

Sadly a reflection of the times in which he lived and the laws then in force.

What happens to all the lesser known convicted "criminals" from those days, nothing I assume.

[DrPMC]

Thanks to Ned to providing some very informative and useful comments about the political context of Alan Turing's prosecution etc.

I tend to agree about the 'politically correct' aspect of this - its similar to the tendency of current political leaders to issue 'apologies' for the actions of their - often historically distant - predecessors. The 'apology' is in fact not theirs to give and history cannot be retrospectively 'corrected'.

Ned mentioned Turing's suicide - there is a respectable and scholarly argument that his death was actually an accident, the consequence of one of the chemistry experiments that he also used to carry out (see: BBC News - Alan Turing: Inquest's suicide verdict 'not supportable').

Regards,

Philip

[big ned]

Sadly a reflection of the times in which he lived and the laws then in force.

What happens to all the lesser known convicted "criminals" from those days, nothing I assume.

Turing was pardoned under the Royal Prerogative of Mercy which was originally enacted to withdraw death sentences, but now covers any sentence or penalty. Two cases that spring to mind from around those times were the posthumous exonorations of Timothy Evans for the 10 Rillington Place murders of John Christie, and Derek Bentley for the "Let him have it Chris" murder of a Police officer by Christopher Craig.

[big ned]

Thanks to Ned to providing some very informative and useful comments about the political context of Alan Turing's prosecution etc.

I tend to agree about the 'politically correct' aspect of this - its similar to the tendency of current political leaders to issue 'apologies' for the actions of their - often historically distant - predecessors. The 'apology' is in fact not theirs to give and history cannot be retrospectively 'corrected'.

Ned mentioned Turing's suicide - there is a respectable and scholarly argument that his death was actually an accident, the consequence of one of the chemistry experiments that he also used to carry out (see: BBC News - Alan Turing: Inquest's suicide verdict 'not supportable').

Regards,

Philip

Well said Philip, i'm sure many are aware of the ongoing kurfuffle regarding the events of Turing's death. Indeed, the gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell who has been a leading light in the cause for Turing's pardon is now banging on that an official inquiry should opened into the circumstances of his death as he seems to think, amongst other conspiracy theorists, that Turing was murdered by the security forces. This has already been done once, and no evidence was found to that end. What has to be done to please these people?

[DrPMC]

What has to be done to please these people?

Without commenting specifically on Turing or any other case, my feeling is that literally nothing can be done to please them. This is because they are not actually concerned with achieving a specific end, rather wishing to be seen to be seeking it; it's a politically motivated bid to manipulate opinion to their own benefit. This is why we see an endless succession of synthetic media storms got up over some detail - all the participants - politicos, hacks etc. - know the score but nonetheless carry on the charade. Even many or most of the 'consumers' (us) know what is going on but still the show goes on...

P

[StefanM]

Most people outside of the media loop would be shocked as to how much of the "news" is created and written by PR companies representing their clients' special interests which is then merely edited by the subbies and published as "real news" stories.

[cammobunker]

Turing's death...what a waste. An intellect of that caliber, a genius in every sense of the word, dead, either through suicide or other, more more nefarious means. Who knows what he might have accomplished, what advances did we not make in the field of...well, pick one, he excelled at several. More than excelled. He amounts to the father of the modern computer, really, or at very least a truly influential uncle. He was only 41, what else might he have come up with had he lived?

[StefanM]

Many other members of the Ratio Club, to which Turing belonged, went on to be some of the leading influencers in the field of cybernetics:

http://www.sussex.ac.uk/Users/philh/pubs/Ratio2.pdf