Alan Turing, the scientific revolutionary behind Early Computers was unveiled as the face on the £50 note this Monday. Mark Carney, the governor of The Bank Of England, in his speech, recognised Turing’s efforts towards the betterment of mankind. Moreover, Carney highlighted Turing’s efforts in laying the foundation stone for the Artificial Intelligence.
Who is Alan Turing?
Alan Turing was born on 23rd June 1912 in Maine Vale, London. Turing was a British mathematician, computer scientist and logician.
“I couldn’t think of a more deserving candidate, he was an extraordinary human being” #BenedictCumberbatch talks to @BBCPM about the Bank of England putting #AlanTuring on the £50 bank notehttps://t.co/qD5gaW8RPi pic.twitter.com/GWszDS1EXR
— BBCPM (@BBCPM) July 15, 2019
Moreover, Turing also made a significant contribution to the field of Computer Science. He did so first at the National Physics Laboratory and then at the University of Manchester.
However, his contributions did not limit to that, Turing hacked the Enigma code and helped in lessening the chaos of World War II by multitudes.
How did Turing make the cut?
Alan’s work did wonders in decoding the German Naval messages encoded with the Enigma Machine. Also, his efforts in the development of early computers are not given enough credits.
2013, saw his chemical castration for having a love affair with someone from the same sex, a crime in then Britain. The bank saw this as a way to pay heed to his legacy that continues to benefit both society and science until now.
The binary on the ribbon that runs across England's new 50-pound note is 23 06 1912 in decimal – Alan Turing's birthday. #AlanTuring pic.twitter.com/v2MV5RtnRE
— MIT CSAIL (@MIT_CSAIL) July 15, 2019
Although Turing faced an untimely death on the basis of homosexuality being a crime then. Hence, having his face on the note will be the voice of change that the society has gone through since his 1952 conviction.
Here's why #AlanTuring deserves to be celebrated and remembered 👏 pic.twitter.com/fzohUjOsor
— This Matters (@thismatters_uk) July 15, 2019
His work provided strength to the concept of an algorithm, used for computations. And lying at the base of the human relationship with computers today. He also contributed to Artificial Intelligence in the form of ‘Turing Test’ which aimed at measuring the intelligence of a machine.
The new £50 note will enter the economy by the end of 2021, as announced by Mark Carney. Moreover, the note will feature Turning’s photo taken in 1951 by Elliott and Fry.
The note is supposed to break the barriers of caste, creed, religion and sexual orientation. And so we hope it to do the needful.
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