Once Hounded By British Authorities, Computer Pioneer Alan Turing To Now Appear On New 50 Pound Note

Alan Turing, computer pioneer and codebreaker for allied forces in second World War, will feature on the new 50 pound polymer note, the Bank of England (BoE) announced on Monday (15 July), reports News18.

The BoE selected Turing from a shortlist that included famous Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan and British theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking.

According to the report, BoE governor Mark Carney announced that Turing will appear on new polymer 50 pound note by the end of 2021.

“Alan Turing was an outstanding mathematician whose work has had an enormous impact on how we live today. As the father of computer science and artificial intelligence, as well as war hero, Alan Turing’s contributions were far ranging and path breaking. Turing is a giant on whose shoulders so many now stand,” Carney said.

Turing, best known for his work devising code-breaking machines during World War II, played a pivotal role in the development of early computers first at the National Physical Laboratory and later at the University of Manchester.

The computer pioneer killed himself in 1954 at the age of 41 after he was chemically castrated following his conviction under the Victorian-era homophobic laws. He was given a posthumous royal pardon in 2013 for his 1952 conviction after being arrested. for having an affair with a 19-year-old Manchester man.