An e-petition to the Government to end the long if now somewhat theoretical disgrace of Alan Turing is rapidly gathering signatures after only a few days.

More than 3000 people have signed the appeal for an official pardon for the brilliant scientist whose work in Manchester was instrumental in the creation of today's computer world but ended in tragedy after his conviction for gross indecency because he was actively gay.

Turing has been rehabilitated in almost every other sense, in a society very different from that of 1952, but that makes letting his conviction stand seems all the more perverse. Campaigners hope that success with the e-petition, which will trigger a debate in Parliament if it collects 100,000 signatories, will act as symbolic contrition to other men treated in the same way.

Turing's academic career was the stuff which normally earns knighthoods and honorary degrees, from decoding work at Bletchley Park during the Second World War to his celebrated period in the computing laboratory at Manchester University from 1948, leading a team which set the pace for computer development for the next three decades.

Although his genius was recognised in his lifetime, with fellowship of the Royal Society and an OBE, his conviction lost him his security clearance and ruined his career. Always something of an outsider, he had been given a report as a teenager at Sherborne school which warned that his public school education would be wasted if he insisted on being purely a 'scientific specialist.'

Next year sees the centenary of his birth and has been designated Alan Turing Year, with an international programme organised by a committee of scientists and others chaired by Prof Barry Cooper of the School of Mathematics at the Leeds University. He says:

A pardon from the Government in the centenary year of Turing's birth would be warmly welcomed by his family, friends, colleagues and those in the scientific community who have benefitted from the foundations he laid. His work in computer science and mathematical logic remains relatively unknown to the wider public, despite the prevalence of everyday devices based on it. We hope that this petition and the year-long celebrations planned in 2012 will raise awareness and cement his place as one of the great scientists.

Turing was found dead from cyanide poisoning at his home in 1954, two years after his conviction and a sentence which obliged him to undergo hormonal treatment intended to reduce libido. An inquest concluded that he had committed suicide.

Many years later, honours have been piled on him, including statues, the annual Turing Award which is computing equivalent of a Nobel, and the widely-used title of the Father of Computing. A previous e-petition prompted an official apology from the then Prime Minister, Gordon Brown in September 2009. He said:

Thousands of people have come together to demand justice for Alan Turing and recognition of the appalling way he was treated. While Turing was dealt with under the law of the time and we can't put the clock back, his treatment was of course utterly unfair and I am pleased to have the chance to say how deeply sorry I and we all are for what happened to him. So on behalf of the British government, and all those who live freely thanks to Alan's work I am very proud to say: we're sorry, you deserved so much better.

But the conviction still stands. The link to the e-petition is above, or you can sign it here.