Queen pardons computing giant Alan Turing 59 years after his suicide

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/...-giant-alan-turing-59-years-after-his-suicide

 

What's the point of this pardon? He's dead.

 

The point is that alan can now rest in peace and his relatives can live safe in the knowledge that a mathematical genius did not go to his grave under a veil of shame.

It seems rather ironic that alans sexuality was under criticism and yet we now live in a society where it is wide openly accepted.

This is a pardon which is long overdue and his efforts at bletchley park and the ultimate cracking of the german enigma code was finally achieved should be fully recognised and alans private life should never have been under scrutiny.

 

What a totally thoughtless comment to make.
Did you even bother to read the news article..?

 

Really? The Queen felt a need to issue a pardon fifty-nine years after the death of someone over a gay issue? Alan Turning doesn't give a darn, I can assure you of that. He was resting just fine. It sounds more to me like a political correctness move pushed by another rights group than any goodwill gesture. Regardless, the topic really doesn't belong here in my opinion. His computing contributions aren't the subject of the article, and it will be much too easy for this thread to explode.

 

If the thread explodes, I will ask for it to be closed.

 

In those days gays were prime blackmail targets and were not to be trusted with state secrets. That's just the way it was in every country back in the day.
I hadn't heard of this guy before and I have a MA in modern European history. Thanks for the info.

 

Really? Enlighten me. What does this do except some good PR to the Queen and something to be "proud" to the royal fanatics?

 

I had heard of him, and yes, those considered "different" have always been persecuted at one time or another, some continuing to be to this day. I just feel that the pardon doesn't make a bit of difference at this point. The "shame" isn't going to go away for Mr. Turing, he died under it and can't be brought back for an apology and a pat on the back.

 

Swim away from the hook

 

It may have brought some comfort to Mr. Turing's family, if any of them are still alive. To be honest, I posted this article since I heard of Alan Turing and Turing machines during my computer science classes in college. I didn't know a lot of information presented in the article and thought some forum members would find the article interesting.

 

Pardoning is nice... but misses the point. What she should do is formally apologize to him. Pardoning him because of disgusting outdated laws? Yeah, fine, but kinda missing the point.

 

It was the right thing to do.
Former PM Gordon Brown has offered a "We're sorry" before but a pardon was still a no-go.
Part of the sentence for Turing was experimental chemical castration by massive injections with hormones, all in name of 'the crown' of course as UK justice goes.
So a pardon by 'the crown' was long overdue.

For those interested, check f.i Bletchley Park Turing Bombe rebuild link to get an idea of the computers folks were working with to crack WWII nazi communication codes like used in the Enigma machine.

Edit; I think this 'royal pardon' can actually be seen as an apology. Quoted from the linked OP article

It might perhaps seem silly such phrasing, if you're used to non-regal head of states but this sounds like a 'royal apology' to me.
What the queen says is one thing, what she means is usually expressed by a member of government, in this case the justice secretary, Chris Grayling. link

 

There were thousands of people convicted in Britain because of that law. Now, after 50 years, they found sympathy for this guy. This is something like "let's play on both heads". Send a message to the normal people, but not upset the homophobes.

 

On the contrary, it's taking a very famous case of persecution and saying "This was wrong". It should have been an apology though.

 

Queen pardons ... completely anachronistic and irrelevant. We are in 2013.

 

Nope, if you really want to be trusted you mention all people involved. Like it happened with the holocaust. Can you imagine the Germans apologizing only to one Jew for what they did during the WW2?

 

I certainly agree that there should be an apology for all involved.

 

those blackmail rationales were just an excuse to go after gay people, as evidenced by the fact that US (and UK I presume) also convicted openly gay people (how do you threaten to expose someone who is already out?). besides, you can blackmail straight people too for affairs outside of marriage and what-not.

 

Better very very late than never I suppose......

Well this is the pefect place to honor the father of all modern computing, dont you think ?

 

Sadly alan lived through a very different society than our very own and things which are openly accepted today were considered a taboo then.

I sincerely think that his scientific accomplishments should be a prority and his personal life should be private.

Let him be remembered for the great work at bletchley park etc.