New £50 note featuring WW2 codebreaker Alan Turing enters circulation
A new £50 banknote celebrating mathematician Alan Turing, whose codebreaking skills helped Britain win WW2, entered circulation today.
Turing is best known for designing machines to decrypt coded messages during WW2, as well as making discoveries in developmental biology.
“Placing him on this new banknote is a recognition of his contributions to our society, and a celebration of his remarkable life,” BoE Governor Andrew Bailey said.
The new banknote completes the BoE’s transition away from paper notes to those made of a more durable polymer.
Existing paper £50 banknotes will circulate alongside the new ones until the end of September 2022. £50 notes account for 357m of the 4.5bn BoE notes in circulation.