Alan Turing

#AlanTuring has, since his death, been credited with winning #WorldWarII for the Allies. He was a mathematician, computer scientist, logician, cryptanalyst, and theoretical botanist. He is the creator of the #TuringMachine, a mathematical method of computation in which symbols are manipulated on a strip of tape to follow a set of algorithms. In essence, it was one of the first computers, and for this he is considered the father of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence. It was during World War II that his computer was put to the test to break German codes, which was successful and allowed British intelligence to know and act upon Nazi movements. In 1952, Turing was arrested for “gross indecency,” as he was homosexual and in a relationship with another man. His choices were imprisonment or probation with chemical castration in which he would be administered antiaphrodisiacs to greatly reduce libido; he chose the latter. This made him impotent and actually caused breast tissue to form, as the drug was a synthetic estrogen. This conviction meant that he could no longer continue work for the British government, and he died in 1954 by cyanide poisoning. Investigation into his death found that he had committed suicide. In 2009, the British government officially apologized for their treatment of Alan Turing, and a few years afterward he was given a posthumous pardon. The government then went even further to give pardons to anyone sentenced under the “indecency offenses” in a law aptly named the #AlanTuringLaw. #LGBTQIAPride