A new Bank of England’s £50 note will feature the computer science pioneer Alan Turing.
BBC announces that the banknote will enter circulation on 23 June, which would have been the mathematician’s birthday.
Why Alan Turing on the note? The work of Alan Turing allowed to accelerate Allied efforts to read German Naval messages enciphered with the Enigma machine. Fundamental is however his pivotal role in the development of core computer science ideas and early computers, first at the National Physical Laboratory and later at the University of Manchester.
The notes are a further recognition of UK celebration of one of its leading figures in the 1900.
Andrew Bailey, the governor of the Bank of England, is reported to have said: “He was a leading mathematician, developmental biologist, and a pioneer in the field of computer science. He was also gay, and was treated appallingly as a result. By placing him on our new polymer £50 banknote, we are celebrating his achievements, and the values he symbolises.” Alan Turing’s portrait on the new £50 note is certainly an important step ahead toward recognition and respect of human diversity in personality, nature, intellectual strength and artistic excellence.