Britain pardons 'father of computing' Alan Turing of Homosexuality conviction
Britain has granted a posthumous pardon to Alan Turing, the World War II code-breaking hero who committed suicide after he was convicted of the then crime of homosexuality.
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Turing is often hailed as a father of modern computing and he played a pivotal role in breaking Germany's Enigma code, an effort that some historians say brought an early end to World War II.
He died in 1954 after eating an apple laced with cyanide, two years after he was sentenced to chemical castration for the "gross indecency" of homosexuality.
A coroner ruled that Turing committed suicide, though this has since been questioned.
Queen Elizabeth II has now pardoned Turing for "a sentence we would now consider unjust and discriminatory", justice minister Chris Grayling said.
Homosexuality was decriminalised in Britain in 1967.
"A pardon from the Queen is a fitting tribute to an exceptional man," Mr Grayling said.
Prime minister David Cameron said the code-breaker's work had saved "countless lives".
"Alan Turing was a remarkable man who played a key role in saving this country in World War II by cracking the German Enigma code," Mr Cameron said.
"He also left a remarkable national legacy through his substantial scientific achievements, often being referred to as the father of modern computing."
The Enigma code was used to encrypt communications between German U-boats in the North Atlantic ocean.
Turing's efforts to break it were virtually unknown to the public at the time of his death, as his work was kept secret until 1974.
Turing's landmark research into computing
Turing also published pioneering work on early computers, writing in a 1936 paper of a "universal Turing machine".
Having told people he was trying to "build a brain", his theory was the first to consider feeding programs into a machine as data, allowing a single machine to perform the functions of many - just like today's computers.
He lost his job at Britain's electronic eavesdropping agency GCHQ after he was convicted and poisoned himself with cyanide at the age of 41.
A GCHQ spokesperson said the agency was "delighted about the pardon".
The pardon is a victory for supporters, including leading scientists such as Britain's Stephen Hawking, who have long campaigned to clear Turing's name.
Former British prime minister in 2009, Gordon Brown, issued a posthumous apology to the code-breaker, saying he had been treated "terribly".
But the government rejected a call to grant an official pardon last year on the grounds that Turing was properly convicted of what was then a criminal offence.
More than 37,000 people signed an online petition last year calling for a pardon.
Pardons are usually only granted in Britain when the person is innocent of the offence and when it is requested by someone with a vested interest, such as a family member.
Turing's pardon is extremely rare in that it has been granted despite neither of these conditions being met.
Britain pardons 'father of computing' Alan Turing, who killed himself after homosexuality conviction - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
How does that work? Surely every person convicted of homosexuality before it was decriminalised is now equally entitled to a pardon.
This is not the way a legal system works. Your criminality depends on the law at the time of your actions regardless of how unfair it may later seem. They can grant him honours to compensate for what seems, by today's standards, to be unfair treatment by an outdated law but granting pardons for criminal convictions following the repeal of the law is not correct.
He undoubtedly contributed crucially to the defeat of the Third Reich for which we are all in his debt but this is still not an appropriate way to deal with the unfortunate outcome from his conviction.
