200 Years of LGBTQIA+ History

From Shadows to Pride — UK & Global Timeline

Source Record

Working on Colossus

Why this source is used

National Archives education source on Bletchley Park, codebreaking, modern computing, and Alan Turing.

Start with the answer

Start with the answer Which LGBTQ+ public figures changed visibility? They changed visibility in politics, science, activism and literature by showing that queer lives could be public, influential and historic. Read the topic guide Queer Public Trailblazers Queer public trailblazers made LGBTQ+ lives visible across science, civil rights, elected office and trans liberation, often while facing erasure or punishment.

Source Status

Publisher
The National Archives
Type
archive
Reliability
high
Cited by
3 pages

Source Links

Open original source https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/home-front-1939-1945-part-two/working-on-colossus/ Accessed 2 June 2026 Open archived copy https://web.archive.org/web/*/https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/home-front-1939-1945-part-two/working-on-colossus/

Used by Topics

Queer Public Trailblazers

Used by Questions

Which LGBTQ+ public figures changed visibility?

Used by Timeline Events

1945 CulturalDiscriminationLegalUKPeople

Alan Turing’s Codebreaking Saves Lives

Alan Turing played a pivotal role in cracking the Enigma code during WWII, work estimated to have shortened the war by two years and saved millions of lives. Despite this extraordinary contribution, he was prosecuted for homosexuality in 1952, subjected to chemical castration, and died in 1954 in circumstances widely believed to be suicide.