The Bank of England Governor Mark Carney in a function on Monday announced that Alan Turing the father of modern AI computation is to be featured on the new 50-pound note.
Who Was Alan Turing?
After conducting a public survey which included 1000 potential celebrities including an Indian Mulsim Noor Inayat Khan, Alan Turing was chosen to appear on the new 50-pound note which is set to be released by 2021. During world war two, when the allies were about to lose their foothold in Europe, the mathematicians helped break the Enigma code used by the Germans to communicate and relay commands.
He, along with a team comprising of 9 men and four women designed a machine that managed to decode the enigma machine or enigma code. This gave the allies an unprecedented advantage they needed. Now they could anticipate every German move and plan an attack or counter attack accordingly.
Convicted For Being a Homosexual
Alan was convicted of committing an act of indecency with a man and was booted out of the program at the end of the war. He was given two options one was to choose hanging till death, and the other was to undergo hormonal therapy to change is sexual preferences.
He chose the second option .he died on June 7, 1954, Wilmslow, United Kingdom for allegedly committing suicide. The queen in 2013 pardoned him posthumously after people filed multiple petitions.
What People Have to Say on This?
For a mathematician of his caliber to be scrutinized and disrespected in such a way is utterly disgraceful. Its high time that he be given the dignified response any intellectual of his caliber is given. His work helped shorten the war by two years.
Not everyone thinks that featuring Alan Turing on a £50 Note is an appreciation of his intellect and capabilities; this is because currency notes are mere facilitation of dealing between drug dealers and gamblers. Therefore allowing Alan’s picture to exchange through ‘those’ hands would be a mere disservice to him.
