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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alan Turing | 8/11 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T18:12:42.486679+00:00 | kb-cron |
=== Treasure === In the 1940s, Turing became worried about losing his savings in the event of a German invasion. In order to protect it, he bought two silver bars weighing 3,200 oz (90 kg) and worth £250 (in 2022, £8,000 adjusted for inflation, £48,000 at spot price) and buried them in a wood near Bletchley Park. Upon returning to dig them up, Turing found that he was unable to break his own code describing where exactly he had hidden them. This, along with the fact that the area had been renovated, meant that he never regained the silver.
=== Engagement === In 1941, Turing proposed marriage to Hut 8 colleague Joan Clarke, a fellow mathematician and cryptanalyst, but their engagement was short-lived. After admitting his homosexuality to his fiancée, who was reportedly "unfazed" by the revelation, Turing decided that he could not go through with the marriage.
=== Chess === Turing invented a hybrid chess sport, earlier than chess boxing, referred to as round-the-house chess, one player makes a chess move, then that player runs around the house, and the other player must make a chess move before the first player returns.
=== Homosexuality and indecency conviction ===
In December 1951, Turing met Arnold Murray, a 19-year-old unemployed man. Turing was walking along Manchester's Oxford Road when he met Murray just outside the Regal Cinema and invited him to lunch. The two agreed to meet again and in January 1952 began an intimate relationship. On 23 January, Turing's house in Wilmslow was burgled. Murray told Turing that he and the burglar were acquainted, and Turing reported the crime to the police. During the investigation, he acknowledged a sexual relationship with Murray. Homosexual acts were criminal offences in the United Kingdom at that time, and both men were charged with "gross indecency" under Section 11 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885. Initial committal proceedings for the trial were held on 27 February during which Turing's solicitor "reserved his defence", i.e., did not argue or provide evidence against the allegations. The proceedings were held at the Sessions House in Knutsford. Turing was later convinced by the advice of his brother and his own solicitor, and he entered a plea of guilty. The case, Regina v. Turing and Murray, was brought to trial on 31 March 1952. Turing was convicted and given a choice between imprisonment and probation. His probation would be conditional on his agreement to undergo hormonal physical changes designed to reduce libido, known as "chemical castration". He accepted the option of injections of what was then called stilboestrol (now known as diethylstilbestrol or DES), a synthetic oestrogen; this feminization of his body was continued for the course of one year. The treatment rendered Turing impotent and caused breast tissue to form. In a letter, Turing wrote that "no doubt I shall emerge from it all a different man, but quite who I've not found out". Murray was given a conditional discharge. Turing's conviction led to the removal of his security clearance and barred him from continuing with his cryptographic consultancy for GCHQ, the British signals intelligence agency that had evolved from GC&CS in 1946, though he kept his academic post. His trial took place only months after the defection to the Soviet Union of Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean, in summer 1951, after which the Foreign Office started to consider anyone known to be homosexual as a potential security risk. Turing was denied entry into the United States after his conviction in 1952, but was free to visit other European countries. In the summer of 1952 he visited Norway which was more tolerant of homosexuals. Among the various men he met there was one named Kjell Carlson. Kjell intended to visit Turing in the UK but the authorities intercepted Kjell's postcard detailing his travel arrangements and were able to intercept and deport him before the two could meet. It was also during this time that Turing started consulting a psychiatrist, Franz Greenbaum, with whom he got on well and who subsequently became a family friend.
== Death ==