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Part of the development of those electronic brains was accomplished by Alan Turing, considered the father of theoretical computer science. Born in London, UK, in 1912, he graduated from King's College, Cambridge and got his doctorate from Princeton University in the USA. During World War Two he worked at Bletchley Park for the UK's Government Code and Cypher School, helping to break the German Enigma Code as part of Project Ultra. Concentrating on the German naval code, his efforts helped win the Battle of the Atlantic.

After the war he made many contributions to the mathematics involved in computer science, although a large part of his work was covered by the Official Secrets Act until after his death. He also made contributions in mathematical and theoretical biology that were later proven correct.

Turing addressed the problem of artificial intelligence, and proposed an experiment that became known as the Turing test, an attempt to define a standard for a machine to be called "intelligent". The idea was that a computer could be said to "think" if a human interrogator could not tell it apart, through conversation, from a human being. In the paper, Turing suggested that rather than building a program to simulate the adult mind, it would be better to produce a simpler one to simulate a child's mind and then to subject it to a course of education. A reversed form of the Turing test is widely used on the Internet; the CAPTCHA test is intended to determine whether the user is a human or a computer.

Turing was a homosexual, and outed himself in 1951 as part of a police inquiry into a burglary of his apartment. Homosexual acts were a crime in the United Kingdom at the time, and after a trial for "gross indecency" he was convicted and opted for chemical castration (the other choice was prison). His secret clearance was revoked although he kept his academic post.

Alan Turing was found dead in his apartment on June 8, 1954. The cause of death was cyanide poisoning consistent with suicide, although there are indications that it could have simply been an accident. In 2009 efforts were made to secure an apology from the British Government, resulting in Prime Minister Gordon Brown issuing a statement describing Turing's treatment as "appalling." He was pardoned by Queen Elizabeth II in 2013.

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I reached out to  TheTiedTigress for this commission too late for Pride Month, so here it is. Better late than never.

I chose A Scottish Border Collie to depict Turing because one of his grandparents hailed from Scotland, so I selected the breed under my criteria for the Historical Furries folder in gallery here on FA. The green carnations, rainbow ribbon, and the legend "We Have Always Been Here" are to remind everyone that LGBTQ+ people have always been here, are here, and always will be here.


Alan Turing © The Collective Mind of Humanity

Art by  TheTiedTigress