LONDON (Reuters) – The Bank of England unveiled a new note design in honor of mathematician Alan Turing, who helped Britain win World War II with his code cracking skills, but is believed to have committed suicide after be convicted of having sex with a male partner.
The new £ 50 ($ 69) bill features an image of Turing, mathematical formulas from a 1936 article he wrote that laid the foundation for modern computer science and technical designs for the machines used to decipher the Enigma code.
The polymer note also brings a quote from Turing on the rise of the machine’s intelligence: “This is just a taste of what is to come, and just the shadow of what is going to be”
Turing drew on the work of Polish mathematicians who figured out how to read Germany’s Enigma code, finding a way to break the increased security of the code by the Nazis.
This 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 avoid submarines and were instrumental in the Battle of the Atlantic.
He also developed a technique that led to the breaking of the more sophisticated Lorenz cipher in Germany.
Turing was convicted of gross indecency in 1952 for having sex with a man and was subjected to chemical castration with injections of female hormones to avoid arrest. He lost his security clearance to work with the British spy agency GCHQ.
Homosexual sex was illegal in Britain until 1967.
Turing used cyanide to kill himself in 1954, at the age of 41, according to an inquiry at the time. He received a royal pardon from Queen Elizabeth in 2013 for the criminal conviction that preceded her death.
“There is something about a nation’s character in its money,” BoE Governor Andrew Bailey said in a statement on Thursday that highlighted the breadth of Turing’s achievements.
“He was also gay, so he was treated terribly,” said Bailey. “By placing it on our new 50 pound polymer banknote, we are celebrating its achievements and the values it symbolizes.”
GCHQ chief Jeremy Fleming said Turing’s image on the note was a remarkable moment.
“Turing was embraced for his brilliance and persecuted for being gay. His legacy is a reminder of the value of embracing all aspects of diversity, but also of the work that we still need to do to become truly inclusive, ”said Fleming.
The BoE said it would fly the rainbow flag in its main building on London’s Threadneedle Street on Thursday.
The 50 pound banknote is the highest-value banknote in the BoE. It will go into circulation on June 23, Turing’s birthday.
($ 1 = £ 0.7290)
Written by William Schomberg; Editing by Alexandra Hudson