(This was originally published in the UBC-O Phoenix student newspaper on Thursday September 10th, 2009, written by me)

There is a debate raging in the halls of Britain’s government, across the internet, and across many people’s minds. Right now, there is a growing movement for the British government to apologize to Alan Turing, posthumously, for their, to modern-day sensibilities, atrocious treatment.

Alan Turing is regarded by many to be the father of modern computing. His work formalized the concept of the algorithm(a way of solving a problem, like how to do long-division without a calculator) and many other things. One of the most important facets of his work was on that of the “halting problem”, which asks if there is an algorithm that can determine if another algorithm will ever complete, given a set of inputs. He was able to show that there is no such algorithm, that will work with every algorithm and set of inputs, in a fairly long and involved proof. He also developed the notion of a programmable machine(the Turing machine), able to emulate any other machine, only as long as that machine can emulate a Turing machine.

All of modern computing, from Facebook, to Halo, owes Turing a debt of gratitude for his work and efforts in designing computers, formalizing many of the important mathematics underlying modern computers, and demonstrating their use during WWII. For a time, Turing was responsible for the unit(known as Hut deciphering Nazi naval communications, and was responsible for saving many lives during WWII. He also designed the bombe, which was the key tool to breaking Enigma, the Nazi cipher. And he did all this before the age of 42.

Because it was at the age of 42 when Alan Turing died, of suicide. Two years previous, in 1952, Turing was outed as a homosexual, and under the laws of Britain at the time, tried and found guilty of being a homosexual. The punishment: castration. Turing was found guilty of the same laws that Oscar Wilde suffered under, only Turing chose to be chemically castrated, rather than go to jail.

These laws have since been repealed in Britain, and are now against the UN Charter of Human Rights, and against the EU constitution. What is happening right now, is that people want the government of Britain to acknowledge wrongdoing in their actions, not just against Turing, but against anyone that suffered under those laws, many of whom are still alive today. Over 6000 signatures have already been added to the petition regarding the apology at the time this article went to press.

Editors note: The British Government, on the same date of publication, offered up an apology to Alan Turing and the thousands of other gay men wrongly punished under this law.