The “Father of Computer Science” — who played a key role in defeating the Nazis during World War II — is set to be posthumously pardoned of his gross indecency conviction, according to a new report.
WWII hero Alan Turing is widely credited with hastening the falls of the Nazis because he cracked the German Enigma, which allowed U-boats to securely communicate in the North Atlantic.
Turing, who was gay, was later convicted under anti-homosexuality legislation and sentenced to chemical castration.
In 1954, Turing, 41, was found dead of cyanide poisoning — a half-eaten apple sitting on his bedside table.
A long-held urban legend about Turing claims the genius was obsessed by the poisoned apple in “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves” and may have killed himself in the same way to end the persecution he suffered as a result of being gay, according to the BBC.
For years the UK parliament refused to pardon Turing or any of the other 49,000 gay men, including Oscar Wilde, convicted under the 1885 Criminal Law Amendment Act.
Now, however, Turing is expected to be pardoned in October — nearly 50 years after his death, according to The Guardian.
Liberal Democrat Lord Sharkey, who has been campaigning for Turing’s pardon for years, said of the government’s reversal, “The government knows that Turing was a hero and a very great man.”
“They acknowledge that he was cruelly treated. They must have seen the esteem in which he is held here and around the world.”