4 ms·

"In 1952, he was convicted of ‘gross indecency’ - in effect, tried for being gay. His sentence - and he was faced with the miserable choice of this or prison -

by bravura 17y ago

"In 1952, he was convicted of ‘gross indecency’ - in effect, tried for being gay. His sentence - and he was faced with the miserable choice of this or prison - was chemical castration by a series of injections of female hormones. He took his own life just two years later." Yes, and he killed himself by eating a cyanide-laced apple. This poetic method of suicide allowed him, as one final gesture, to give his mother the comfort of thinking her son's death was accidental. His mother maintained that her little Alan was always tinkering in the lab, and it was most likely an accident that his apple became contaminated with the cyanide that killed him.

staunch 17y ago
It's also possible that he was assassinated. We'll probably never know for sure.
- jacquesm 17y ago
  "Alan Turing, the man who knew too much", by David Leavitt. The speculation goes that if Turing was a homosexual he was a security risk. I'm not sure what to make of that though, after all he was no longer allowed to work with the machines which were advancing very rapidly indeed. Similar rumours keep cropping up about David Kelly. The problem is that with such a lack of transparency even if these are nonsense there is no way to debunk them, that alone gives them a semblance of credence. As you said, we'll never know.
  - pbhjpbhj 17y ago
    If Turing had been heterosexual and had gone out to the cinema to pick someone up and then invited them back to his house for sex .. that too would have been seen as risky behaviour likely to lead to being snared in a honey trap, no? Presumably the situation of his arrest wasn't the first time he had acted in this way.
    - jacquesm 17y ago
      The circumstances are quite different. From what I know about the case, and I've only read a book or two on it and quite long ago, the friend that Turing took home later broke in to his house or something to that effect. Turing reported to the police and in the process of the investigation the whole thing spilled out. So, even if it wasn't the first time he acted that way it doesn't really matter because there is 0 proof that Turing was 'blackmailable' because of his sexuality.
      - pbhjpbhj 17y ago
        The whole situation appears to have been an attempted blackmail, Turing meets a teenager at the cinema in the week and invites him back to his for sex, they meet that weekend (with another person IIRC) and have sexual relations and the youth takes some of Turings possessions (money can be a possession, Secret government docs can be too(!), something was taken) presumably under the belief that Turing wouldn't report it due to their relationship - approximating blackmail at least. Turing reports the larceny (theft of sorts) to the Police, they ask him what the youth was doing there and Turing told them. Resulting in Turing and the youth both being arrested. I'd warrant there is no record anywhere to show this wasn't an attempt at blackmail as part of espionage activities - but you're right he turned out not to be blackmail-able in this instance as he went to the police. But one does not know whether he was in a trap and realised it or not in a trap at all. The MI6 file on this would make an interesting read I'm sure.
- radu_floricica 17y ago
  The official history is somewhere in between. But this doesn't make the apology less welcome. No matter why he died, the wrong thing is the way he was treated when alive. And, no doubt about that, he was treated badly.

by bravura 17y ago

staunch 17y ago

It's also possible that he was assassinated. We'll probably never know for sure.

jacquesm 17y ago
"Alan Turing, the man who knew too much", by David Leavitt. The speculation goes that if Turing was a homosexual he was a security risk. I'm not sure what to make of that though, after all he was no longer allowed to work with the machines which were advancing very rapidly indeed. Similar rumours keep cropping up about David Kelly. The problem is that with such a lack of transparency even if these are nonsense there is no way to debunk them, that alone gives them a semblance of credence. As you said, we'll never know.
- pbhjpbhj 17y ago
  If Turing had been heterosexual and had gone out to the cinema to pick someone up and then invited them back to his house for sex .. that too would have been seen as risky behaviour likely to lead to being snared in a honey trap, no? Presumably the situation of his arrest wasn't the first time he had acted in this way.
  - jacquesm 17y ago
    The circumstances are quite different. From what I know about the case, and I've only read a book or two on it and quite long ago, the friend that Turing took home later broke in to his house or something to that effect. Turing reported to the police and in the process of the investigation the whole thing spilled out. So, even if it wasn't the first time he acted that way it doesn't really matter because there is 0 proof that Turing was 'blackmailable' because of his sexuality.
    - pbhjpbhj 17y ago
      The whole situation appears to have been an attempted blackmail, Turing meets a teenager at the cinema in the week and invites him back to his for sex, they meet that weekend (with another person IIRC) and have sexual relations and the youth takes some of Turings possessions (money can be a possession, Secret government docs can be too(!), something was taken) presumably under the belief that Turing wouldn't report it due to their relationship - approximating blackmail at least. Turing reports the larceny (theft of sorts) to the Police, they ask him what the youth was doing there and Turing told them. Resulting in Turing and the youth both being arrested. I'd warrant there is no record anywhere to show this wasn't an attempt at blackmail as part of espionage activities - but you're right he turned out not to be blackmail-able in this instance as he went to the police. But one does not know whether he was in a trap and realised it or not in a trap at all. The MI6 file on this would make an interesting read I'm sure.
radu_floricica 17y ago
The official history is somewhere in between. But this doesn't make the apology less welcome. No matter why he died, the wrong thing is the way he was treated when alive. And, no doubt about that, he was treated badly.