Well, he deserved an apology when he was alive.  But even now it would not be out of order.

For those not familiar with the name, Alan Turing was a British mathematician, logician, and the father of modern computer science.  He was closely involved in breaking the Nazi's "Enigma" cipher.  He developed the Turing test, to determine the quality of machine intelligence.

He was also gay, in a time when homosexuality was widely regarded as a curable mental illness -- and was also prosecutable as a crime.  He was outed, charged with "gross indecency" (the same thing Oscar Wilde was charged with), and given a choice of imprisonment or chemical castration.  He accepted the latter.  He lost his security clearances and could no longer work as a cryptanalytic consultant for Britain's Government Communications Headquarters.  His death, two years later, by cyanide poisoning, was ruled a suicide.

Now at the official site for Number 10 Downing Street, there is a petition (signable only by British citizens or residents) asking that the Prime Minister "apologize for the prosecution of Alan Turing that led to his untimely death".

There is an article about the petition at the Manchester Evening News, with an online poll.

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2 Comments

August 19, 2009 6:12 PM

[0+]  Nettle Syrup said:

I signed, and so have almost 4000 others so far. Here's hoping they'll listen to us!

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August 22, 2009 5:42 PM

[0+]  kb said:

I'm not supporting homophobia, but wouldn't a better honor of the memory be working for understanding and gay rights rather than an apology to a dead man?

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