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Alan Turing Memorial facts for kids

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Alan Turing's statue surrounded by flowers on his birthday 2018
Flowers on the Alan Turing Memorial. This picture was taken on June 22, 2018, just before Turing's 106th birthday.

The Alan Turing Memorial is a special statue in Sackville Park in Manchester, England. It honors Alan Turing, who was a very important person in creating modern computers.

The statue shows Turing sitting on a bench right in the middle of the park. The University of Manchester is on one side of him, and Canal Street is on the other.

Creating the Memorial

The statue was revealed on June 23, 2001, which was Alan Turing's birthday. The idea for the memorial came from Richard Humphry, a lawyer. He started the Alan Turing Memorial Fund to collect money for it.

Richard Humphry got the idea after seeing a play called Breaking the Code. Sir Derek Jacobi, an actor, became a supporter of the fund. Glyn Hughes, a sculptor, was chosen to create the statue. Roy Jackson helped raise money for the project.

In just one year, enough money was collected through donations and a "village lottery." This allowed the statue to be made in China. It cost about £16,000, which was much less than if it had been made in the UK.

What the Statue Shows

Sackville Park Turing plaque
A plaque at the Turing Memorial.

Alan Turing is shown holding an apple. The bronze bench has his name and dates: "Alan Mathison Turing 1912–1954". It also has a special message: "Founder of Computer Science." This message is written as if an Enigma machine encoded it: 'IEKYF RQMSI ADXUO KVKZC GUBJ'.

At the statue's feet, there is a plaque. It says "Father of computer science, mathematician, logician, wartime codebreaker." It also includes a quote from Bertrand Russell: "Mathematics, rightly viewed, possesses not only truth, but supreme beauty — a beauty cold and austere, like that of sculpture."

Gallery

  • Flowers on Alan Turing's Memorial, as an early part of the flowers for Turing Project.

    Flowers on Alan Turing's Memorial, 2012.

  • Alan Turing Memorial - Alan with the apple

    Turing Memorial close-up.

  • Alan Turing Memorial

    Turing Memorial with the Engineering and Physical Sciences Faculty Office of the University of Manchester in the background.

  • Sackville Park-Alan looking toward Sackville Street

    Turing Memorial looking at Sackville Street.

  • Sackville Park looking toward UMIST building

    Sackville Park looking toward the Sackville Building, University of Manchester.

  • Alan Turing Olympic Torch

    The London 2012 Olympic Torch stopped off at Turing's statue in Manchester on his 100th birthday.

  • Alan Turing 18-10-2009 11-10-27

    The Alan Turing Memorial

  • Alan Turing Memorial 2

    Turing Memorial close-up, showing the apple he holds

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Monumento a Alan Turing para niños

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