Apology for Alan Turing

As you probably know, logic pioneer Alan Turing invented the Turing machine model of computation, proved the undecidability of the halting problem and (independently of Church) the undecidability of the decision problem, and played an important role in the work at Blechley Park that broke various German ciphers during World War II. He was also gay, and committed suicide following his criminal conviction for “gross indecency” and the chemical castration he was forced to undergo. There are now two petitions circulating, calling for a formal apology from the British Government for Turing’s treatment: one for British citizens and an international petition.

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