Alan Turing was not a well known figure during his lifetime. But today he is famous for being an eccentric yet passionate British mathematician, who conceived modern computing and played a crucial part in the Allied victory over Nazi Germany in WW2.
He was also a victim of mid-20th Century attitudes to homosexuality – he was chemically castrated before dying at the age of 41.
In December 2013, Alan Turing was granted a posthumous royal pardon, formally cancelling his criminal conviction.
It followed a four-year campaign supported by tens of thousands of people, including scientists Stephen Hawking and Richard Dawkins. Opinion was divided on whether singling out an individual in this way did true justice to a situation in which thousands of gay men had been criminalised.
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