British Forces

Alan Turing, OBE, FRS.

One of a series of identity card-type portraits of Dr Alan Turing, mathematician, of the Universities of Cambridge and of Princeton. During the war, Turing worked in the Government Code and Cypher School, Bletchley Park. He played a major role in British cryptanalysis, playing a central role in the breaking of the German Enigma code system, notably, as primary inventor of the Turing-Welchman "Bombe", an early electro-mechanical computer, and developing mathematical formulae to eliminate particular variations of the Enigma settings. In the longer view, Turing's work in this period was a major advance in the development of modern computer technology, and in the theory of artifical intelligence. In a very direct sense, we are still benefiting from his work today. Turing continued in high-level scientific and cryptological work after the war. This effectively ended with his conviction for "indecency" in 1952 - the "indecency" concerned was a homosexual act, something that was illegal (in this case criminal) in Britain in 1952. On foot of his conviction, Turing accepted "chemical castration" as an alternative to imprisonment. In June, 1954, Turing was found dead in his apartment; the inquest adjudged this suicide, which was almost certainly correct, although the circumstances were somewhat unusual. On 10 September 2009, the then-Prime Minister of the UK, Gordon Brown, issued an apology for the British Government's ungrateful behaviour towards Turling in prosecuting him back in 1952. In that year, there is no doubt that Turing broke the law as it then was; and suffered a brutal penalty for that. Equally, there is no doubt that the work of this brilliant and - by the account of this colleagues and associates - charming man saved the lives of many service personnel from all Allied nations, and helped shorten the war. I do not know whether Alan Turing ever handled a gun, even for the purpose of shooting grouse. Still, he was a great war hero, whose worth and tragic end are still insufficiently appreciated, or even known. Best regards, JR.