First he was a national hero, then he was a national disgrace. Now timed to what would have been his 109th birthday, World War II code breaker Alan Turing will the first gay man pictured on a British currency.
Turing was credited with helping defeat the Nazis with his code-breaking machine, known as Bombe, honored by King George VI, and developed the first computer. But despite these achievements, he was a victim of the “Lavender Scare” of the 1950s and persecuted for being gay.
After receiving a posthumous royal pardon, England is hoping to honor Turing’s contributions to the world by putting him on a £50 bank note.
Sarah John, chief cashier for the Bank of England, said she is “delighted” about the decision to highlight Turing’s legacy. “He was a brilliant scientist whose thinking still shapes our lives today,” she told NBC News. “By placing him on this new £50, we are celebrating his life and his achievements, of which we should all be very proud.”
Turing was born in London on June 23, 1912 and graduated from the University of Cambridge in 1934. During World War II, he joined the British wartime effort and decoded 89,000 messages per day for the Allied Forces via his code-breaking innovation. After the war, Turing was made an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.
Turing went on to continue his work in computer science, pioneering technology that led to the development of artificial intelligence and writing the first computer-programming manual. According to his biographer, Andrew Hodges, Turing envisioned one machine that could “be turned to any well-defined task by being supplied with the appropriate program.”
But at the height of the Cold War in the 1950s, both the U.S. and British governments targeted and prosecuted gay people as suspected “communist sympathizers” and national security threats.
Turing was involved at the time with a man named Arnold Murray. While investigating a burglary at Turing’s home, police questioned him about his relationship with Murray. In March 1952, Turing and Murray both pleaded guilty to charges of “gross indecency.” While Murray was given a conditional discharge, Turing was compelled to agree to be chemically castrated in order to avoid incarceration.
Turing’s criminal record meant he would not have been granted security clearance or permitted to work for the government on fighting the Cold War. On June 7, 1954, he died by apparent suicide just before his 42nd birthday. His cause of death was listed as cyanide poisoning.
“His many contributions to society were still not enough to spare him the appalling treatment to which he was subjected simply because he was gay,” John told NBC News.
Over a decade after Turing’s death, Britain finally began taking steps toward decriminalizing homosexuality. The British government did not apologize for Turing’s mistreatment until 2009, and he wasn’t officially pardoned by Queen Elizabeth II until 2013.
“We’re sorry — you deserved so much better,” said Gordon Brown, the prime minister in 2009, in a speech recognizing the abuse so many members of the LGBTQ+ community faced. “Alan and the many thousands of other gay men who were convicted, as he was, under homophobic laws were treated terribly.”
The bank note is a symbolic gesture that attempts to account for historic wrongs and honor people who have shaped history. The United States is attempting a similar move with an effort to place Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill.
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