A Century of Turing.

Only recently I have become aware of a great mind born on the 23rd June 1912, and now considered to be the father of computer science and artificial intelligence. In this year of his 100th birthday we should remember his achievements with honour.

Alan Turing became known from working during the Second World War at Bletchley Park, the code breaking centre leading onto solving the German enigma code, which helped win the war. He also spent time in United States in 1942, and worked with U.S. Navy cryptanalyst's on Naval Enigma and bombe device construction in Washington. In the later part of the 40's he worked on some of the first computers and created the 'Turing' test in relation to artificial intelligence, which is still used today.

Even with all the this computer science discoveries, Turing sadly died at 41 from cyanide poisoning. He was convicted of indecency from homosexual acts, which appears ridiculous today. He was given a choice in 1952 between imprisonment or probation conditional on his agreement to undergo hormone treatment designed to reduce sexual desire. He accepted chemical castration via oestrogen hormone injections and was found dead on 12 June 1954, with suicide or poisoning both questioned. 

We now leave in a fairer society where homosexuallity is no longer a crime and gay rights have come to the forefront politically. Prime Minister Gordon Brown acknowledged a petition, to posthumously apologise to Alan Turing for prosecuting him as a homosexual, by releasing a statement on 10 September 2009 apologising and describing Turing's treatment as "appalling". This shows the country has moved on in the right direction and heroes and inventors are noted for their work not their lives. Even the Royal Mail announced in early 2012 that a British postage stamp in the Royal Mail "Britons of Distinction" series would feature Turing.