Alan Turing , the founding father of estimator science , is celebratedfor his huge contribution to the fields of mathematics and computer science , and his role in crack the enigma code during World War II , helping the Allies to victory . However , he was not so lionise during his spirit , being convicted of “ consummate impropriety ” in 1952 due to his sexuality and forced to receive chemical substance expurgation . In 1954 , he was happen dead from cyanide intoxication , and an inquest rule he had taken his own life . He was 41 .

Prior to his conviction , Turing was awarded an OBE by the Queen in 1945 in recognition of   his Service to his country during the war . As a codebreaker at top - secretBletchley Park , he design a machine called the Bombe to decode German messages produced by the far-famed Enigma auto . His study has been hugely influential to the universe of estimator scientific discipline and artificial intelligence . He splendidly machinate the Imitation Game , now acknowledge as the Turing Test , a way to decipher whether a machine is able of thinking like a human .

But long after Turing ’s death , in 1984 , his OBE medal was stolen , as were his Princeton degree credential , photographs , his schoolhouse write up , and letters from his school long time . They were taken from Sherbourne School in Dorset , England , where Turing was a pupil between 1926 and 1931 . The story of the theft is bizarre , to say the least .

In 1984 , a woman visited Sherbourne and ask to take a look at the school ’s Turing archive . Left neglected , she swapped the valuable item for a deal - compose note . It understand : “ Please forgive me for taking these material into my possession . They will be well taken concern of while under the caution of my hand and shall one day all be render to this spot . ”

Unsurprisingly , they never found their direction back to that spot .

“ I did not see her again but she wrote express her joy at possess a collection of Turing item and included a photo of them place out on a table – his pic , OBE & so on , ” wrote Colonel A.W. Gallon , Sherborne School bursar at the time , in a alphabetic character , according toPlanet Princeton . “ I was not aware that she had taken them , nor indeed was the bibliothec ! ”

decade by and by in 2018 , a woman name Julia Turing , claiming to be a family member , told the University of Colorado ( UC ) Boulder that she would lend the objects to them .   But was she really a distant relative of Alan Turing ? It would appear not . Turns out , her substantial name is Julie Ann Schwinghamer , and she shift it to Julia Mathison Turing in 1998 . Her contact with UC Boulder raised suspicions and officials swoop up in to look into . Upon search Julia ’s home , they set up the pretermit items , 36 years after they were taken .

US attorney for Colorado Jason Dunn has now filed a lawsuit against Julia , seeking forfeit of the stolen objects to the American government . She reportedly had a total of 17 of Turing ’s items in her possession . The memorabilia were in the first place give to Sherbourne by Turing ’s mother in the sixties and together are suppose to be worth hundreds of one thousand of dollar .

In 2013 , the Queen issued a posthumous amnesty to Turing , apologise for the mode he was treated by a land that he gave so much to . It was n’t until 1967 that homosexuality was decriminalized in the UK , and up until then , an estimated 65,000 men were convicted of gross impropriety .   valet de chambre in England and Wales were automatically pardon under the 2017Alan Turing Law , although the majority had died long before .

[ H / T : Planet Princeton ]