Pioneering gay scientist Alan Turing honoured with new sculpture
Scientist Alan Turing, considered the father of modern computing and artificial intelligence, has been honoured at King’s College, Cambridge, with a new sculpture nine years after it was first proposed.The 3.7m high artwork by Sir Antony Gormley was unveiled at the university where Turing, best known for cracking the Enigma Code during the Second World War, studied mathematics and became a fellow of the college in 1935 when he was just 22 years of age.
He was awarded an OBE in 1945 for his incredible work, but in 1952, he was sentenced to chemical castration after being convicted of “gross indecency” with another man.
He died by suicide two years later after facing social ostracisation and mental health struggles as a result of his conviction.It wasn’t until 2009 that the British Government issued a posthumous apology for the treatment that Turing had received.
He was officially pardoned by Queen Elizabeth in 2019. The sculpture, titled ‘True”, comprises 19 Corten steel blocks that appear to balance impossibly on one another.
