During World War II Alan Mathison Turing was a pivotal character in the British attempts to break German Cryptology. During his time working he was a key player in the development of the Bombe which was a device to break the core of Germany's encoded messages. His efforts were nearly revolutionary in impact. Without his genius the war may have dragged on longer, and the outcome of many battles may have changed.
The tragedy of his success was the way in which he was treated by Great Briton after the war. Despite his influences and continued impact, he had a major "flaw." He was homosexual, which was illegal and considered a mental illness at the time. It cost him his clearance, job, and a conviction for gross indecency for admitting to sexual relations with a man. He was given a choice of imprisonment or probation with chemical castration. He chose probation, and was injected with estrogen, one of the side effects was him growing breasts.
On June 7th 1954 he died of cyanide poisoning. The official report calls it a suicide, although his mother claims that it may have been accidental. Many conspiracy theorists believe the British Secret Service had him assassinated, since he knew many state secrets and there were fears he could sell them.
In the years after his death his real value has been realized, and he is now considered one of the greatest people in the 20th century. On September 10th, 2009 British Prime Minister Gordon Brown made an official public apology,on behalf of the British government, for the treatment of Turing after the war.
It is worth the time to read more about him here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing.
As you know, I am an extreme proponent of equal rights. This is, unfortunately, a very good example of the hell that intolerance can cause. Who knows what other advances he could have made, how many other things this man could have accomplished, if only people could accept his nature.
Fear of difference is debilitating for any opportunity for advancement.
Posted by: The Wife | 09/28/2009 at 05:53 PM
They did this to him just because he was gay? That's slack. And why did they give him estrogen? What did they think would happen?
And after what he did, they could have just looked the other way, or send him away or something. I'm glad the PM apologised to him.
Posted by: Olivia | 09/28/2009 at 08:39 PM
They apologized long after he was dead.
"Chemical Castration" is the introduction of hormones into the body that is supposed to reduce a man's sex drive, thus preventing the "undesireable" sexual tendencies. They use progestin now, more than estrogen.
There was a while there when Chemical Castration was used on child sex offenders on the assumption that they would no longer be sexually attracted to children. But success is so erratic that it's been all but stopped.
Posted by: The Wife | 09/29/2009 at 09:36 AM