User:سائغ/E5

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Philosopher Jack Copeland has questioned various aspects of the coroner's historical verdict. He suggested an alternative explanation for the cause of Turing's death: the accidental inhalation of cyanide fumes from an apparatus used to electroplate gold onto spoons. The potassium cyanide was used to dissolve the gold. Turing had such an apparatus set up in his tiny spare room. Copeland noted that the autopsy findings were more consistent with inhalation than with ingestion of the poison. Turing also habitually ate an apple before going to bed, and it was not unusual for the apple to be discarded half-eaten.[1] Furthermore, Turing had reportedly borne his legal setbacks and hormone treatment (which had been discontinued a year previously) "with good humour" and had shown no sign of despondency prior to his death. He even set down a list of tasks that he intended to complete upon returning to his office after the holiday weekend.[1] Turing's mother believed that the ingestion was accidental, resulting from her son's careless storage of laboratory chemicals.[2] Biographer Andrew Hodges theorised that Turing arranged the delivery of the equipment to deliberately allow his mother plausible deniability with regard to any suicide claims.[3]

Turing's OBE currently held in Sherborne School archives

It has been suggested that Turing's belief in fortune-telling may have caused his depressed mood.[4] As a youth, Turing had been told by a fortune-teller that he would be a genius. In mid-May 1954, shortly before his death, Turing again decided to consult a fortune-teller during a day-trip to St Annes-on-Sea with the Greenbaum family.[4] According to the Greenbaums' daughter, Barbara:[5]

  • But it was a lovely sunny day and Alan was in a cheerful mood and off we went... Then he thought it would be a good idea to go to the Pleasure Beach at Blackpool. We found a fortune-teller's tent[,] and Alan said he'd like to go in[,] so we waited around for him to come back... And this sunny, cheerful visage had shrunk into a pale, shaking, horror-stricken face. Something had happened. We don't know what the fortune-teller said[,] but he obviously was deeply unhappy. I think that was probably the last time we saw him before we heard of his suicide.

Government apology and pardon[edit]

In August 2009, British programmer John Graham-Cumming started a petition urging the British government to apologise for Turing's prosecution as a homosexual.[6][7] The petition received more than 30,000 signatures.[8][9] The Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, acknowledged the petition, releasing a statement on 10 September 2009 apologising and describing the treatment of Turing as "appalling":[8][10]

  • Thousands of people have come together to demand justice for Alan Turing and recognition of the appalling way he was treated. While Turing was dealt with under the law of the time and we can't put the clock back, his treatment was of course utterly unfair and I am pleased to have the chance to say how deeply sorry I and we all are for what happened to him ... So on behalf of the British government, and all those who live freely thanks to Alan's work I am very proud to say: we're sorry, you deserved so much better.[8][11]

In December 2011, William Jones and his Member of Parliament, John Leech, created an e-petition[12] requesting that the British government pardon Turing for his conviction of "gross indecency":[13]

  • We ask the HM Government to grant a pardon to Alan Turing for the conviction of "gross indecency". In 1952, he was convicted of "gross indecency" with another man and was forced to undergo so-called "organo-therapy"—chemical castration. Two years later, he killed himself with cyanide, aged just 41. Alan Turing was driven to a terrible despair and early death by the nation he'd done so much to save. This remains a shame on the British government and British history. A pardon can go some way to healing this damage. It may act as an apology to many of the other gay men, not as well-known as Alan Turing, who were subjected to these laws.[12]

The petition gathered over 37,000 signatures,[12][14] and was submitted to Parliament by the Manchester MP John Leech but the request was discouraged by Justice Minister Lord McNally, who said:[15]

  • A posthumous pardon was not considered appropriate as Alan Turing was properly convicted of what at the time was a criminal offence. He would have known that his offence was against the law and that he would be prosecuted. It is tragic that Alan Turing was convicted of an offence that now seems both cruel and absurd—particularly poignant given his outstanding contribution to the war effort. However, the law at the time required a prosecution and, as such, long-standing policy has been to accept that such convictions took place and, rather than trying to alter the historical context and to put right what cannot be put right, ensure instead that we never again return to those times.[16]

John Leech, the MP for Manchester Withington (2005–15), submitted several bills to Parliament[17] and led a high-profile campaign to secure the pardon. Leech made the case in the House of Commons that Turing's contribution to the war made him a national hero and that it was "ultimately just embarrassing" that the conviction still stood.[18] Leech continued to take the bill through Parliament and campaigned for several years, gaining the public support of numerous leading scientists, including Stephen Hawking.[19][20] At the British premiere of a film based on Turing's life, The Imitation Game, the producers thanked Leech for bringing the topic to public attention and securing Turing's pardon.[21] Leech is now regularly described as the "architect" of Turing's pardon and subsequently the Alan Turing Law which went on to secure pardons for 75,000 other men and women convicted of similar crimes.[22][23][24][25][26][27][28]

  1. ^ a b Pease, Roland (23 June 2012). "Alan Turing: Inquest's suicide verdict 'not supportable'". BBC News. Archived from the original on 23 June 2012. Retrieved 23 June 2012. We have ... been recreating the narrative of Turing's life, and we have recreated him as an unhappy young man who committed suicide. But the evidence is not there.
  2. ^ "TURING, Ethel Sara (1881–1976, mother of Alan Turing). Series of 11 autograph letters to Robin Gandy, Guilford, 28 July 1954 – 11 June 1971 (most before 1959), altogether 29 pages, 8vo (2 letters dated 17 May and 26 May 1955 incomplete, lacking continuation leaves, occasional light soiling)". christies.com. Archived from the original on 7 February 2019. Retrieved 6 February 2019.
  3. ^ Hodges 1983, pp. 488, 489
  4. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference hodges2012 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Vincent Dowd (6 June 2014). "What was Alan Turing really like?". BBC. Archived from the original on 17 January 2019. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  6. ^ Thousands call for Turing apology. 31 August 2009. Archived from the original on 31 August 2009. Retrieved 31 August 2009. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  7. ^ Petition seeks apology for Enigma code-breaker Turing. CNN. 1 September 2009. Archived from the original on 5 October 2009. Retrieved 1 September 2009.
  8. ^ a b c Davies, Caroline (11 September 2009). "PM's apology to codebreaker Alan Turing: we were inhumane". The Guardian. UK. Archived from the original on 4 February 2017. Retrieved 10 December 2016.
  9. ^ The petition was only open to UK citizens.
  10. ^ "PM apology after Turing petition". BBC News. 11 September 2009. Archived from the original on 27 May 2012. Retrieved 11 September 2009.
  11. ^ Full text of the Prime Minister's apology Archived 9 November 2012 at the Wayback Machine.
  12. ^ a b c "Grant a pardon to Alan Turing". 6 December 2011. Archived from the original on 10 January 2012.
  13. ^ "Petition to pardon computer pioneer Alan Turing started". BBC News. 6 December 2011. Archived from the original on 19 June 2018. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
  14. ^ Wright, Oliver (23 December 2013). "Alan Turing gets his royal pardon for 'gross indecency' – 61 years after he poisoned himself". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 24 December 2013. Retrieved 21 August 2017.
  15. ^ Wainwright, Martin (7 February 2012). "Government rejects a pardon for computer genius Alan Turing". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 4 February 2017. Retrieved 10 December 2016.
  16. ^ "hansard". Parliament of the United Kingdom. 2 February 2012. Archived from the original on 6 July 2017. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
  17. ^ Stevenson, Alex (24 December 2013). "Better late than never, Alan Turing is finally pardoned". politics.co.uk. Archived from the original on 16 August 2016. Retrieved 25 September 2016.
  18. ^ Fitzgerald, Todd (24 September 2016). "Alan Turing's court convictions go on display for the first time". manchestereveningnews.co.uk. Archived from the original on 25 September 2016. Retrieved 25 September 2016.
  19. ^ Britton, Paul (24 December 2013). "Alan Turing pardoned by The Queen for his 'unjust and discriminatory' conviction for homosexuality". Manchester Evening News. Archived from the original on 24 June 2018. Retrieved 24 June 2018.
  20. ^ "MP calls for pardon for computer pioneer Alan Turing". BBC News. 1 February 2012. Archived from the original on 2 July 2016. Retrieved 25 September 2016.
  21. ^ "My proudest day as a Liberal Democrat". Liberal Democrat Voice. Archived from the original on 24 June 2018. Retrieved 24 June 2018.
  22. ^ "Manchester computer pioneer Alan Turing announced as face of new £50 note". 15 July 2019. Archived from the original on 19 July 2019. Retrieved 19 July 2019.
  23. ^ "John Leech secures historic deal with Government on 'Alan Turing Law'". outnewsglobal.com. 20 October 2016.
  24. ^ Elliott, Larry; Halliday, Josh, eds. (15 July 2019). "Alan Turing to feature on new £50 banknote" – via www.theguardian.com.
  25. ^ Bloom, Dan (23 October 2016). "Tory refuses to apologise for 'killing bad law' pardoning thousands of gay men". mirror.
  26. ^ "Alan Turing's 'fearless approach to problems and intellectual curiosity' praised". Dunfermline Press.
  27. ^ "The Alan Turing Law finally pardons thousands of unfairly convicted gay and bisexual men". University of Manchester. 31 January 2017.
  28. ^ "Bank of England honours Alan Turing on £50 note". QNews. 15 July 2019.
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