Queen pardons gay codebreaker Alan Turing

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II this week granted a Royal pardon for internationally acclaimed British codebreaker and computer scientist Alan Turing, who took his own life in 1954 after being convicted two years earlier of having consensual sex with a 19-year-old male.

The pardon came more than a decade after gay activists and straight allies lobbied the British government for a posthumous pardon for Turing, saying his conviction on a charge of “gross indecency” was an injustice even though gay sex was considered a crime at the time under British law.

“Alan Turing was a remarkable man who played a key role in saving this country in World War II by cracking the German Enigma code,” The Telegraph newspaper quoted British Prime Minister David Cameron as saying.

“His action saved countless lives. He also left a remarkable national legacy through his substantial scientific achievements, often being referred to the as father of modern computing,” the newspaper quoted Cameron a saying.

Cameron was referring to Turning’s groundbreaking work for one of Britain’s intelligence agencies during World War II in which he applied his own research on information processing – considered a forerunner to modern computer science — to devise a means of breaking the code used by German submarines to attack and sink British ships.

Turning, who continued his research after the war, is widely considered by computer experts to have developed the foundation for high tech devices such as smart phones.

A British Broadcasting Company history report on Turing’s life says Turing was arrested, tried and convicted in 1952 on the homosexuality related charge. Other news reports from the British press say the arrest came after Turing called police to report that a 19-year-old male with whom he at one time had a relationship broke into his house.“He made a huge impact on the world he lived in and left a legacy for the world of today and tomorrow,” The Telegraph quoted Iain Steward, a Conservative Party member of the British Parliament, as saying. “This Royal pardon is a just reward for a man who was stripped of his honor, his work, and the loyalty he showed his nation.

The admission prompted police to file the gross indecency charge. Authorities later gave Turing a choice of imprisonment or hormonal treatment to eliminate his sexual drive that activists have called “chemical castration.” Turing chose the latter.

The conviction, among other things, resulted in Turing being stripped of his security clearance, preventing him from continuing his work on code breaking and related fields for one of his country’s top intelligence agencies.

He was found dead on June 7, 1954. An autopsy and toxicological tests showing he died of cyanide poisoning. A half-eaten apple was found next to his bed, according to the press reports.

A June 2012 BBC report says the apple wasn’t tested to determine if it was laced with cyanide, as had been speculated since the time of Turing’s death, and that it might be possible that the death was an accident. The BBC reported that Turing had been using cyanide for experiments he had been conducting at his home.

A spokesperson for the British Embassy in Washington said the Queen announced last December her intent to grant Turing the pardon. The spokesperson, James Harris, said the Queen put the pardon in place officially on Tuesday, Aug. 19.

“Now know ye that we, in consideration of circumstances humbly represented to us, are graciously pleased to grant our grace and mercy unto the said Alan Mathison Turing and grant him our free pardon posthumously in respect of the said convictions,” the pardon states.

Artists Save the Day during WWII

Shortly after the D-Day invasion on June 6, 1944, two Frenchmen on bicycles managed to cross the perimeter of the United States Army’s 23rd Headquarters Special Troops and what they saw astounded them. Four American soldiers had picked up a 40-ton Sherman tank and were turning it in place. Soldier Arthur Shilstone says, “They looked at me, and they were looking for answers, and I finally said: ‘The Americans are very strong.’”

Patriotic pride aside, the men of the 23rd were not equipped with super-human strength. They did, however, have inflatable tanks.

Shilstone was one of 1,100 soldiers who formed the unit, also known as the Ghost Army. They were artists and illustrators, radio people and sound guys. Handpicked for the job from New York and Philadelphia art schools in January 1944, their mission was to deceive the enemy with hand-made inflatable tanks, 500-pound speakers blasting the sounds of troops assembling and phony radio transmissions. 

Over the course of the war, they staged more than 20 operations and are estimated to have saved between 15,000 and 30,000 U.S. lives. The illusion was never broken and not even their fellow soldiers knew of their existence.

Kept secret for 40 years, the story of the Ghost Army first broke in Smithsonian magazine in the April 1985 issue, when then-illustrator Shilstone shared his part in the war.  Now, Shilstone and 18 other members of the 23rd are part of the new PBS documentary, “The Ghost Army.”

When he first began researching the story, director Rick Beyer says he was amazed. “First you think, maybe I’m misunderstanding or maybe it was just one time,” says the director. It’s a skepticism he’s since encountered on the road, including at a presentation for seniors at the Perkins School for the Blind in Massachusetts. “There was one guy, while I was setting up and he was just convinced that the whole thing was bullshit.” He told Beyer he had served in General Patton’s Third Army and never knew of any Ghost Army. But Beyer continued with his screening. Afterward the same man approached him and said, “This is the most amazing story I ever heard!”

Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/When-an-Army-of-Artists-Fooled-Hitler-208304561.html#ixzz2URAlXFJ9