[Not math, and not fun.] Actually, Americans share some of the blame for Turing's troubles. After Burgess defected in 1951, I suspect that things got pretty hot for any British homosexuals in secret positions who had contact with the U.S., since McCarthy & Hoover already thought that homosexuality was incompatible with secrecy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavender_Scare "... President Dwight D. Eisenhower to sign an Executive Order on April 29, 1953, that barred homosexuals from obtaining jobs at the federal level." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J_Edgar_Hoover The British intensely desired the "Special Relationship" with the U.S., and so Turing (as an open homosexual) became an embarrassment to the British. Since Turing's work was so instrumental in saving lives & shortening the war, and he full well knew it, this shabby treatment (which he must have assumed would last the rest of his career) indicated that Turing's professional life going forward was not going to be particularly pleasant. Turing died in June 1954, possibly having committed suicide, although there are also darker theories about the cause of his death. Note also that many in both Britain & the U.S. considered Turing's code-breaking activities to be THE secret of WWII -- far more secret than the atomic bomb, which had already been copied at that point. At 10:41 AM 12/25/2013, Andy Latto wrote:

On Wed, Dec 25, 2013 at 6:35 AM, David Makin <makinmagic@tiscali.co.uk>wrote:

...

Also it hasn't been applied to all the others.....

Yes, that was my thought. Shouldn't they be offering a blanket pardon and apology to *everyone* convicted under those laws? Otherwise, aren't they sending a message of "well, I guess we can put up with homosexuality if you're brilliant and famous and a war hero,. Otherwise..."