BOE unveils new banknote in honor of WWII code-breaker
The Bank of England unveiled the design of a new banknote celebrating mathematician Alan Turing, who helped Britain win World War II with his code-breaking skills but is believed to have killed himself after being convicted for having sex with a male partner.
The new 50-pound (US$69) note features an image of Turing, mathematical formulae from a 1936 paper he wrote that laid the groundwork for modern computer science, and technical drawings for the machines used to decipher the Enigma code.
The polymer note also carries a quote by Turing about the rise of machine intelligence: “This is only a foretaste of what is to come, and only the shadow of what is going to be.”
Turing built on work by Polish mathematicians who had discovered how to read Germany’s Enigma code, finding a way to crack the Nazis’ increased security of the code.
That story was recounted 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 steer clear of U-boats and was pivotal in the Battle of the Atlantic.
He also developed a technique that led to the breaking of Germany’s more sophisticated Lorenz cypher.
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 Britain’s GCHQ spy agency.
Homosexual sex was illegal in Britain until 1967.
Turing used cyanide to kill himself in 1954, aged 41, according to an inquest at the time.
He was granted a royal pardon by Queen Elizabeth in 2013 for the criminal conviction that preceded his death.
The 50-pound note is the BoE’s highest-value banknote. It will enter circulation on June 23, Turing’s birthday.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
- RSS
- |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证:沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证:31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证:0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证:沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证:沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.