Alan Turing died by suicide on 7 June 1954. Turing was convicted of gross indecency in 1952 and given a choice between imprisonment and probation. His probation would be conditional on his agreement to undergo hormonal physical changes designed to reduce his libido. Turing's conviction led to the removal of his security clearance and barred him from continuing with his consultancy for GCHQ. He was denied entry into the United States after his conviction.
Britain is rapidly becoming a truly horrible place.
Rampant racism, open homophobia, gov backed transphobia, anti abortion prosecutions, feels like all the hard won yards in the last 50 years are being wiped away every day.
@bullivant Letter from Brian Randell to Alan Turing's mother dated 27 November 1975 which was the one of thefirst public acknowledgments of his genius and the critical work he did in WWII.
The letter is on display at Bletchley Park.
I got my first computing job working for Brian seven years after he wrote this important letter.
Alan Turing a tragic loss for science and humanity at the hands of puny minded English bigots.
@bullivant as someone who has been to prison and been on probation, it’s not worth it to take probation if they are really trying to punish you. You just end up with more time later when you violate probation. It’s not worth it if they’re really after you, even if you don’t have to agree to chemical castration it’s usually still not worth it.
I have known many men in prison who choose to max out rather than get out on parole and start to rebuild their life, only to get thrown back in prison because they missed an AA meeting or got laid off from their job through no fault of their own. Then you just end up with a parole violation, you lose everything you’ve built, if it’s not terrible it’s easier to just stay there and get it over with.
@bullivant "suicide" still to me has a question mark over it.
When I was young my textbook said "experimenting with arsenic" and failed to mention his sexuality.
When I heard the fuller version it never made sense.
Thinking of Turing always makes me tear up.
Thanks for the anniversary reminder!
Others, if you don't know his story... it it well worth learning more!
#TheImitationGame (2014) is a movie about #AlanTuring's life from his contribution to creating the 1st #computer to hack the German #Enigma code during #WWII & his later conviction & mistreatment for being #gay
#BenedictCumberbatch plays Turing in the movie & I don't know how much of the movie is "true" but it is an entertaining & well regarded film.
@bullivant He developed, with David Champernowne, the earliest chess program in 1948 :
Konstantin Käfer
iamBullivant
Alexis Sophia 🏳️⚧️
Estarriol, Terrorist Dragon
Tim Stickland
Andy Linton 🇮🇪 
✅
nLupo 
Xenotar
Daughter of Discord
yuhasz01
StarkRG
Maggie Maybe
Cat
Crtlzlife
Todd Unctious
Jfrench
llanciawn
Richard Rathe
Robin Barton
The Alchemist
Basil
sgt1372
Jérémy Pagès
Aho