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Why did the British government officially apologize to Alan Turing in 2009?
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Alan Turing
British mathematician Alan Turing, c. 1930s. Turing did the earliest work on AI, and he introduced many of the central concepts of AI in a report entitled “Intelligent Machinery” (1948).
In 2009, the British government officially apologized to Alan Turing for his "utterly unfair" treatment. This apology stemmed from his prosecution in 1952 for homosexual acts, which were illegal in Britain at the time. As a consequence of his conviction, Turing received hormone therapy and was barred from continuing his vital work in code-breaking for the government. Despite his immense contributions to mathematics, logic, and computer science, including his crucial role in breaking the Enigma code during World War II, Turing was subjected to severe persecution due to his sexual orientation. The apology acknowledged the profound injustice he suffered.1