Happy Birthday, Alan Turing!

Alan Turing was born on 23rd June 1912, just down the road in Maida Vale. He was a pioneer in mathematics and computer science, and his work on cracking the Enigma at Bletchley Park during World War II helped shorten the war by two to four years and saved millions of lives. His theories on logic, computability, and artificial intelligence are still relevant today and have shaped the way we understand modern computers.

In short, Alan was pretty amazing.

Sadly, like many great minds, he was not appreciated in his time. He was prosecuted in 1952 for “homosexual acts” which, at the time were still illegal. He suffered chemical castration and died in 1954, 16 days before his 42nd birthday.

Following a public campaign in 2009, the British government made an official public apology for the way he was treated, and Queen Elizabeth II granted a posthumous pardon in 2013. In 2023 the new £50 banknote was released, on which his face is printed.

Alan Turing plays an important role in our Codebreakers escape room, which is also celebrating a birthday around this time! In Codebreakers, you and your team of agents must help Prime Minister Winston Churchill crack the enemy codes using Alan Turing’s pioneering technology before the blitz attacks begin! This fully immersive experience is based on the real codebreakers of WWII and draws inspiration from real historical locations like the Churchill Cabinet War Rooms in Westminster and Bletchley Park in Milton Keynes.

So if you want to learn more about our favourite computer scientist Alan Turing, gather your team of brave agents and book yourself a session at Mission: Breakout today!