UK's central bank picks Alan Turing to be the face of its PS50 note

British mathematician and World War II codebreaker, Alan Turing, who was chemically castrated for being gay after being convicted under Victorian-era homophobic laws, will feature on UK's new PS50 note, according to Bank of England Governor Mark Carney.

"As the father of computer science and artificial intelligence, as well as war hero, Alan Turing's contributions were far ranging and path-breaking," CNN quoted Carney as saying.

Turing, who is touted to be the father of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence, worked towards cracking Germany's Enigma code at Bletchley Park. He saved thousands of lives during the Second World War by hastening the end of the war due to his codebreaking efforts.

The mathematician will appear on the note by the end of 2021.

The note's design will reflect Turing's work and feature a ticker tape of binary numbers which translates to his birthday, i.e. June 23, 1912. It will also depict the 'British Bombe' machine which helped crack the Enigma code.

It will also feature one of his quotes -- "This is only a foretaste of what is to come, and only the shadow of what is going to be."

A paper published by the mathematician in 1937 introduced the 'Turing machine', which forms the basis of modern computing.

Turing killed himself in 1954 -- about two years after being subjected to chemical castration -- by consuming cyanide. He was also the subject of the 2014 film, 'The Imitation Game'.

He was chosen as the face of the banknote from a pool of candidates which included theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking and mathematician Ada Lovelace.