Alan Turing was born in London on June 23, 1912.  He studied mathematics at King's College and wrote an important article called "On Computable Numbers," which provided the foundation for today's digital computers. A year later, he came to the U. S. and earned his Ph.D. in mathematics at Princeton.

Upon returning to England, he worked at the British Code and Cypher School and helped invent the machine that deciphered the Nazi War Code. This accomplishment directly contributed to the victory over Germany in World War II.

Turing never felt his sexuality was something to hide. Yet in 1952 he was convicted for the crime of homosexuality and lost his security clearance. He was forced to undergo chemical castration in an attempt to cure his homosexual urges.

Two years later, he took his own life, rejected by the very country he helped save during the war.

This Rainbow Minute was read by Jay White.

“The Rainbow Minute” is produced by Judd Proctor and Brian Burns and can be heard every weekday at 7:59am, 12:29pm and 2:59pm on WRIR – 97.3fm in Richmond, Virginia, and webcast at wrir.org. It’s also heard internationally on over 200 stations.