An official apology to Turing

[julesjones]

Alan Turing is one of my heroes. Without him, we would live in a very different world. He was one of the minds behind the code-breaking that turned the tide of a world war; he was one of the people who laid the foundations of modern computing.

And some years after the war, when he was no longer needed for the country's defence, he was stripped of his security clearance and sentenced to a choice of prison or submitting to a drastic chemical castration "cure" for his criminal illness -- homosexuality. He committed suicide two years later.

It has taken 55 years. But yesterday the Prime Minister issued an official apology for the way Turing was treated. It's a long statement, acknowledging along the way that it wasn't just Turing who suffered. But the last few words say it all: "We’re sorry, you deserved so much better."

Comments

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

I think it's actually a personal statement by the PM, rather than an "official" apology, but if anything that's even better as he seems to have actually written it himself. (Apparently Turing doesn't qualify for an official apology because he doesn't have any living relatives, which seems odd.)

I'm a little uneasy with the concept of people "apologising" about something that they had no responsibility for, but I've no problem with their saying "sorry", which isn't quite the same thing. So I'm glad that the PM has said that he's sorry that Turing was treated so badly.

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

He does have living relatives (http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/newsnight/susanwatts/2009/09/turing_relatives_recall_uncle.html). Newsnight interviewed them (http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/newsnight/susanwatts/2009/09/more_from_turings_relatives.html) during the campaign.

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the correction. I was going by the front page story in today's Telegraph, but perhaps I misremembered it.

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

No, everyone keeps stating that there are no living relatives - The Guardian said it too - but there are, because Sioux Watts spoke to them.

Ben Bradshaw did name-check Turing and the apology at tonight's dinner. Fervent applause.

[sallymn.livejournal.com]

"We’re sorry, you deserved so much better." Absolutely.