---
title: "Alan Turing Finally Got His New York Times Obituary"
description: "On Wednesday, The New York Times published a retroactive obituary for Alan Turing, the man credited as kickstarting artificial intelligence research."
date: "2019-06-05"
modified: "2019-06-05"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/alan-turing-new-york-times-obituary"
categories:
  - "Future Society"
tags:
  - "alan turing"
  - "artificial intelligence"
  - "cryptography"
  - "the digest"
---

# Alan Turing Finally Got His New York Times Obituary

![On Wednesday, The New York Times published a retroactive obituary for Alan Turing, the man credited as kickstarting artificial intelligence research.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/alan-turing-new-york-times-obituary.png>)
*\<em\>Image: Richard Gillin via Flickr/Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

## Retroactive

Alan Turing, who during World War II helped the Allies break Nazi codes and later came to be regarded as a pioneer in computing and artificial intelligence, finally got a [proper sendoff](<https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/05/obituaries/alan-turing-overlooked.html?smtyp=cur&smid=tw-nytimesarts>) in the form of a *[New York Times ](<https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/05/obituaries/alan-turing-overlooked.html?smtyp=cur&smid=tw-nytimesarts>)*[obituary](<https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/05/obituaries/alan-turing-overlooked.html?smtyp=cur&smid=tw-nytimesarts>) on Wednesday.

In spite of his scientific developments and contributions to the war, Turing died by suicide in 1954 after the British government convicted him of homosexuality — a crime in the U.K. until 1967 — and chemically castrated him as punishment. With this new obituary, part of the publication's ongoing series of tributes to overlooked historical figures, the *NYT* is celebrating his life and accomplishments.

## Looking Back

*The NYT* wasn't the only one to overlook Turing's death — it took 55 years before the government apologized in 2009 for how he and other gay Brits were treated, and Turing wasn't formally pardoned until Queen Elizabeth II did so in 2013.

"He was a national treasure, and we hounded him to his death," said computer scientist John Graham-Cumming at the time of the government's apology, according to the *NYT*.

## Code Breaker

Not only did Turing help decrypt seemingly-unbreakable Nazi codes during WWII, but he also helped kickstart the entire field of artificial intelligence.

His namesake, the Turing Test, is still considered a crucial and [yet-unsurpassed](<https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence-hype>) benchmark for building machines so intelligent that they seem human.

"I am very proud to say: we're sorry. You deserved so much better," [said then-Prime Minister Gordon Brown](<https://futurism.com/know-your-scientist-alan-turing>) in 2009.

**READ MORE:** [Overlooked No More: Alan Turing, Condemned Code Breaker and Computer Visionary](<https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/05/obituaries/alan-turing-overlooked.html?smtyp=cur&smid=tw-nytimesarts>) \[*The New York Times*\]

**More on Turing:** *[Know Your Scientist: Alan Turing](<https://futurism.com/know-your-scientist-alan-turing>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)