LONDON (Reuters) – The Bank of England has unveiled the design of a new banknote honoring mathematician Alan Turing, who helped Britain win World War II with his code-breaking skills, but is believed to have committed suicide after he had been convicted of having sex with a man. partner.
The new £ 50 ($ 69) note features an image of Turing, mathematical formulas from a 1936 paper he wrote that laid the foundation for modern computing, and engineering drawings for the machines used to create the Enigma code. to decipher.
The polymer note also includes a quote from Turing on the rise of machine intelligence: “This is just a taste of what’s to come, and only the shadow of what’s to come.”
Turing built on the work of Polish mathematicians who had figured out how to read the German Enigma code, and found a way to crack the increased security of the code by the Nazis.
That story was told in the 2014 film The Imitation Game, in which Turing was played by actor Benedict Cumberbatch.
Turing’s work led to the decryption of German naval communications that helped Allied convoys stay clear of U-boats and was crucial in the Battle of the Atlantic.
He also developed a technique that led to the breaking of the more sophisticated Lorenz encryption in Germany.
Turing was convicted of gross indecency in 1952 for having sex with a man and underwent chemical castration with injections of female hormones to avoid imprisonment. He lost his security clearance to work with the British GCHQ spy agency.
Homosexual sex was illegal in Britain until 1967.
Turing used cyanide to kill himself in 1954, aged 41, following a then legal process. In 2013, he was pardoned by Queen Elizabeth for the criminal conviction that preceded his death.
“There’s something of a nation’s character in his money,” BoE Governor Andrew Bailey said in a statement on Thursday, highlighting the breadth of Turing’s accomplishments.
“He was also gay and was treated terribly as a result,” said Bailey. “By placing it on our new 50 pound polymer banknote, we celebrate his achievements and the values he symbolizes.”
The head of GCHQ, Jeremy Fleming, said Turing’s image on the note was a milestone.
Turing was hugged for his brilliance and prosecuted for being gay. His legacy is a reminder of the value of embracing all aspects of diversity, as well as the work we have yet to do to become truly inclusive, ”said Fleming.
The BoE said it would fly the rainbow flag from the main building on Threadneedle Street in London on Thursday.
The £ 50 note is the BoE’s highest denomination banknote. It will come into circulation on June 23, Turing’s birthday.
($ 1 = 0.7290 pounds)
Written by William Schomberg; Editing by Alexandra Hudson