Alan Turing given posthumous pardon

Well, this brought me some good cheer this morning. It seems barbaric to my 'modern' sensibilities that homosexual behaviour was condemned and punished in this way. Although given that it was still illegal in Ireland until after I started college, not to mention given how relatively devout I was as a teenager, I'm not really sure how that is. The nuns must not have had as firm a hold on me as they thought.

Alan Turing was a brilliant man, one I know very little about admittedly but what little I do know I have found fascinating and heartbreaking. This is the very least that could be done.

Irish Times article: code-breaker Alan Turing given posthumous royal pardon

Second World War code-breaker Alan Turing has been given a posthumous royal pardon for a 61-year-old conviction for homosexual activity.

Dr Turing, who was pivotal in breaking the Enigma code, arguably shortening the Second World War by at least two years, was chemically castrated following his conviction in 1952.

His conviction for “gross indecency” led to the removal of his security clearance and meant he was no longer able to work for Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) where he had continued to work following service at Bletchley Park during the war.