Alan Turing, the father of modern computing, to feature on Britain’s new £50 note

The father of modern computing and World War 2 code-breaker Alan Turing will feature on Britain’s new £50 note, the Bank of England has said. Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan and British theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking were among those shortlisted to be featured on the currency note.

Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said Turing would appear on the new note by the end of 2021. “Alan Turing was an outstanding mathematician whose work has had an enormous impact on how we live today,” Carney added. “As the father of computer science and artificial intelligence, as well as war hero, Alan Turing’s contributions were far ranging and path breaking. Turing is a giant on whose shoulders so many now stand.”

Asked why Turing was chosen from a shortlist of 12 scientists, the Bank of England said the mathematician played a pivotal role in the development of early computers – first, at the National Physical Laboratory, and later at the University of Manchester. “He set the foundations for work on artificial intelligence by considering the question of whether machines could think,” said the central bank.