Cambridge connection with new £50 note

Dr Andrew Bailey (1978, Honorary Fellow) celebrated the launch of the new £50 note this week in his role as Governor of the Bank of England.

Dr Bailey read History during his time at Queens' as an undergraduate and completed his PhD here. He was made an Honorary Fellow in 2018.

The new note, which went into public circulation on 23 June, features a portrait of Dr Alan Turing (King's, 1931), the famous Cambridge academic who played a crucial part in deciphering the Enigma machine used by the German armed forces during WWII.

Made a Fellow at King's in 1935, Dr Turing is one of fathers of modern Computer Science.

His research in the 1930s defined what a programmable computer might be.

After the war, while he continued to teach in Cambridge, he outlined the 'Turing test', which is still used as the basis for research into Artificial Intelligence.

He died in 1954, two years after his career at GCHQ had been ended by his conviction for gross indecency because he was in a gay relationship.