Alan Turing to feature on new 50 Pound note

[brooklynite]

Last edited Mon Jul 15, 2019, 10:50 AM - Edit history (1)

Source: The Guardian

Alan Turing, the scientist known for helping crack the Enigma code during the second world war and pioneering the modern computer, has been chosen to appear on the new £50 note.

The mathematician was chosen from a list of almost 1,000 scientists in a decision that recognised both his role in fending off the threat of German U-boats in the Battle of the Atlantic and the impact of his postwar persecution for homosexuality.

The announcement by the Bank of England governor, Mark Carney, at the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester completes the official rehabilitation of Turing, who played a pivotal role at the Bletchley Park code and cipher centre.

While at Bletchley Park, Turing came up with ways to break German ciphers, including improvements to pre-second world war Polish methods for finding the settings for German Enigma machines.



Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/jul/15/alan-turing-to-feature-on-new-50-note

[ck4829]

1. K&R

[DFW]

2. Well deserved

Turing helped shorten the war and sped up Hitler‘s defeat. This doesn‘t begin to make up for what he suffered at the hands of his own government, but it can be taken as a tacit recognition that he deserved way better.

[irisblue]

3. This part in the article above is important as well

Snip-" The Bank praised Turing for his role as a scientist and for the impact he has had on society. Prosecuted for homosexual acts in 1952, an inquest concluded his death from cyanide poisoning two years later was suicide."

Snip-"Turing was homosexual and was posthumously pardoned by the Queen, having been convicted of gross indecency for his relationship with a man. His legacy continues to have an impact on both science and society today.”

[bucolic_frolic]

4. Gordon Welchman should be there too

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. Turing's influence goes far beyond the practical computer work

His work on the fundamentals of computability, and thoughts on artificial intelligence, are what give him the stature they'd want for a note.

[melm00se]

6. If anyone is interested

here are the Turing Digital Archives which contains many of Turing's letters, talks, photographs and unpublished papers, as well as memoirs and obituaries written about him. It contains images of the original documents that are held in the Turing collection at King's College, Cambridge.

[alphafemale]

7. I wish he could have known how much he would be admired and lionized.

From what I have read his day to day life was pretty agonizing.

[hunter]

8. We still live in a world that ignores, destroys, and discards many brilliant people...

... because they are women... because they are LGBTQ... because of racism... by exposing pregnant women and children to potent neurotoxins such as lead, mercury, and certain insecticides... by denying certain classes of people a good education... and so on.

Anti-intellectualism in all its forms is a terrible plague with brutal consequences.