Alan Turing Memorial Sackville Park

Alan Turing Memorial Sackville Park, Manchester

Manchester University | Death | Access | Statues in Britain

Alan Turing (1912-1954) was the mathematical genius who helped to crack the German Enigma codes in World War II. He is thought of as a progenitor of computer science and artificial intelligence. Turing is now honoured by a statue in Sackville Park in Manchester.

Alan Turing Memorial Sackville Park, Manchester

Alan Turing statue in Sackville Park, Manchester

Manchester University

Turing moved to take up a position at Manchester University in 1949 where he worked on the development of a digital computer. In 1952 Turing admitted his homosexuality, which was in those days a crime in the UK. He underwent a “treatment” involving the injection of the female hormone oestrogen to “cure” his “condition.”

Alan Turing Memorial in Sackville Park, Manchester

Death

Turing was found dead in his home in 1954, with a half-eaten apple by his bedside. He was thought to have committed suicide by ingesting cyanide. His mother, however, believed it was an accident caused by his work with dangerous chemicals.

The statue of Alan Turing was unveiled in 2001 and its location in Sackville Park is close to Manchester University and symbolically the city’s gay village.

Sackville Park, close to Piccadilly Station and Manchester University, Manchester

Statue

The statue shows Turing seated holding an apple in his hand, the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge and also possibly the agent of his death. A plaque at his feet now reads: “Father of computer science, mathematician, logician, wartime codebreaker, victim of prejudice.”

Alan Turing sits on a bench holding an apple in Sackville Park, Manchester

Access – Getting There

Sackville Park is a short walk from Manchester Piccadilly Station and also very close to Canal Street Gay Village in the Manchester University district of the city.

Sackville Park map