During World War 2

On 31 March, 1952 Alan Turing faces the court which have charged him for a gross act of indecency with another man. The jury and the court has just charged him with probation for an entire year and to be subjected for chemical castration or go to prison. After he underwent chemical castration, he was not allowed to work for the government anymore. Chemical castration at the time was an alternative for poison for Alan Turing. The effects it had on him led him to commit suicide. Ultimately, During World War 2, Alan Turing triumphed in cracking the enigma code and saving millions of lives along with improving homosexual laws, but suffered a tragic martyrdom which, furthered homosexual rights.

Alan Turing was born in 23 June 1912 in a nursery in Paddington but was conceived in British India. His parents were Ethel Sara Stoney and Julius Mathison Turing; Alan’s Father worked in British civil service in India. Alan Turing was sent to Ireland with his brother while his parents

were in India. He primarily lived in foster homes which did not encourage his eccentric way of thinking. He was interested with subjects such as french and latin as a kid but got addicted to math when he went into highschool. He fell behind in the other subjects because he did not pay attention with any other subject. He only payed attention to math and science. During high school, he derived the arctangent MacLaurin series, which amazed his math teacher. Alan Turing failed many classes when he went to highschool, to the point where he would not be able to graduate. Alan Turing’s principle recommended that he should not attend the public school if he wanted to become a science specialist.

Alan,later an undergraduate in kings, entered a new world one that would reward his kindred spirits in the art of science. Alan Turings reading the new work of von Neumann on the logical foundations of quantum mechanics. It helped his emotional insecurity and changed it to a thirst of intellect. Along with, homosexuality became a part of the cloak of his own identity. The climate of the new world which, he was exploring gave him the feeling of a first real home. James Atkin a fellow mathematical undergraduate at kings, and occasional lover to Alan Turing was closer into though. HIs relaxations were not found in literary circle generally associated with the King's college homosexual group, but with the great outdoors.

A distinguished degrees along with a Fellowships of King's College and a Smith's Prize in 1936. All for his work in number theory. He would have been successful on the path of a number theory student at King's prestigious college. His eccentric way of thinking carried him another way, no one would have predicted.

Turing acquainted himself to Russell by 1933. Where the enigmatic math lurked only under a select few.Russell thought that he had climbed to the peak of math the unsurpassable mountain. To many abstract questions had been raised and he again had fell to the foundation. Russells showing the incompleteness of mathematics had gotten his photo smashed. True statements about integers which which could not be proved by the formal application of sets of deduction. Turing learnt from the lecture course of the Cambridge topologist MHA. It was the question of decidability the Entscheidungsproblem. The only way to answer this would not to be precise but to be compelling. This is how Turing stepped in. He analyzed what could be done by a human and he seized the idea of doing it mechanically. He created a theoretical machine able to perform certain precisely defined elementary operations on paper. He created the argument that the machine was sufficient to encompass all of the questions. Daringly he included an argument based on the states of mind on a robot.

Besides the contest of wits between the two countries, Alan Turing brought electronic technology to the table. And it made its first appearance was at Bletchley Park. But still, the electronic engineers found themselves called upon to mechanize the breaking of the 'Fish' materials. Hitler strategic communication were on enciphered messages.Again Alan's statistical ideas were used, though M. H. A. Newman played the organising role at Bletchley Park. Turing thoughts along with the large electronic machinery pull the trick among Hitler's enciphered code. Alan’s ideas on breaking code did not stop there. He wrote papers about approaching code-breaking, which became such important assets to the government that they waited 70 years to release them to the public.

Alan Turing and Joan Clarke were getting really close to each other and they were engaged. Joan Clarke had fallen in love Alan Turing and was ready to marry him.n But he had admitted his homsexuality to Clarke and later called of his marriage after feeling guilty.

Homosexuality was illegal in United Kingdom at 1950. After the war, Alan Turing and Joan Clarke were getting really close to each other and they later became engaged. But he after he had admitted his homsexuality to Clarke, he called his marriage off after feeling guilty. He was later arrested and when they questioned him about doing sexual deeds with a young manchester man. He did not deny any charges and he claimed that he was not doing anything wrong. Alan Turing was given two options either to receive chemical hormonal treatment or go to jail. The chemical hormonal treatment which made him fruitless. As a result for getting the charges the government terminated the contract with him. Removing all of his security clearances and forcing him to stop working at GCCS.

After World War II, Alan Turing was given awards by the British Empire for his work. Alan’s biographer Andrew Hodges presented a official English Heritage blue plaque at his childhood home. Even 50 years later, a life-size statue of Turing was unveiled at Bletchley Park the place where he cracked the code. Princeton University Alumni Weekly named Turing the second most significant alumni in the history of the school.

Alan was honored posthumously in a number of other ways, particularly in the city of Manchester, where he worked to the end of his life. Turing was ranked 21st on the BBC nationwide poll of the '100 Greatest Britons' in 2002. Turing has been recognized for his impact on computer science, with many crediting him as the 'father' of the field. Prime Minister Gordon Brown released a statement on September 10, 2009 on behalf of the British government, which posthumously apologized to Turing for prosecuting him as a homosexual. 'Thousands of people have come together to demand justice for Alan Turing and recognition of the appalling way he was treated,' Brown wrote in the statement. 'While Turing was dealt with under the law of the time and we can't put the clock back, his treatment was of course utterly unfair and I am pleased to have the chance to say how deeply sorry I and we all are for what happened to him.

'Alan's status as one of Britain's most famous victims of homophobia is another step towards equality and long overdue. But even more than that, Alan deserves recognition for his contribution to humankind,' Brown stated. 'It is thanks to men and women who were totally committed to fighting fascism, people like Alan Turing, that the horrors of the Holocaust and of total war are part of Europe's history and not Europe's present. So on behalf of the British government, and all those who live freely thanks to Alan's work I am very proud to say: we're sorry, you deserved so much better.' Queen Elizabeth gave Alan a golden royal pardon almost 60 years after he committed suicide. On October 20, 2016, the British government gave the “Turing’s Law” to pardon thousands of gay and bisexual men who were convicted for homosexual acts when it was considered a crime. Justice Minister Sam Gyimah states that the law pardons living people who were convicted of homosexuality laws today.

Alan Turing, the man who saved millions of lives during world war 2, was being prosecuted for homosexuality. He deserved much more from society based on all of his works. But instead they punished him with something he did not deserve. Ultimately, During World War 2, Alan Turing triumphed in cracking the enigma code and creating the beginning for computer science and homosexual laws, but suffered a tragic unbecoming.

Cite this page