After having worked as a Systems/Software Engineer for more than 35 years, and after watching “The Imitation Game” for the umpteenth time, I felt I had to address the fate of Alan Turing (the father of modern computing). In Intro to Computer Sciences classes at almost every major university, the students have to construct a “Turing Machine.”
Alan Turing was like most geniuses was tormented by his own inner demons. He and his small group of Mathematicians single handedly won WWII for the allies. The machine they built used simple every day phrases to break the German Enigma Code. They were forced to keep their efforts in total secrecy until after the allies won.
However, this story has a sad ending. You see Alan Turning was a Homosexual; which at that time in Great Britain was a crime punishable by imprisonment. There was one zealous police detective who went on a vendetta to prove that Turing was in fact having sex with locals who hungout at a pub near the secret complex where Turing did his research.
After the war was over Turing was arrested and convicted of being a sexual deviant. He was given a choice. Two years in prison, or chemical castration. He chose the latter so that he could continue his research using “Christopher.” He named his machine after his best friend and possible lover from his days as a young boy at school. He was heart broken when Christopher did not return to school following the summer break. He was called into the Headmaster's office and was given the bad news that Christopher has passed away from Bovine Tuberculosis. Turing was always a loner and was not capable if making friends because he was socially inept. He found common ground with Christopher because the were both math prodigies and the became fast friends with a strong bond between them. Christopher gave Alan a text to read on encrypton. They passed encrypted notes back and forth during math class because they found it to be so boring.
To the point of my narrative. This is for all of you homophobic, LGBT hating bigots out there. A true hero and British patriot's life was destroyed by an arcane law that persecuted individuals because the lived a different live style. A national treasure and a great man was destroyed by that law because after approximately two years of chemical castration Alan Turing committed suicide. A couple of years ago Queen Elizabeth granted Alan Turing an official pardon. Far too little far too late!