Alan Turing Memorial, Bronze memorial in Sackville Gardens, Manchester, England.
The Alan Turing Memorial is a bronze memorial in Sackville Gardens between Whitworth Street and Canal Street in central Manchester. The bronze figure shows the mathematician sitting on a bench with an apple beside him, surrounded by paved walkways and low grass areas.
The statue was created in 2001 by Glyn Hughes and erected following a local fundraising campaign. It was unveiled almost 50 years after the death of the scientist, who died by cyanide in 1954.
The statue is seen by the Gay Village community as an important reminder of how homosexual people were treated in the 20th century. The park now serves as a meeting point for groups discussing human rights and scientific freedom.
The memorial is freely accessible and open at all times, as it stands in a public park. Visitors can sit on the bench beside the figure or read the plaques with information about mathematics and cryptography.
The apple beside the figure is a reference to the Snow White story that the mathematician enjoyed, and also a symbol from computer history. The bench carries an encoded message in binary form that visitors can try to decipher.
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