The World War II codebreaker Alan Turing is the new face of the UK's 50 pound note, the country's highest denomination in circulation. The Bank of England unveiled the new note, worth $68.50, on Thursday, before it is formally issued to the public on June 23, Turing's birthday. 

The mathematician was selected as the new face of the note in 2019 to recognize his work in breaking the Enigma code, which historians say may have helped shorten the 1939-1945 conflict by at least two years, saving millions of lives.

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Considered by many to be the father of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence, he designed what became known as the Turing Test to gauge the success of AI – the idea being that a computer could only be said to "think," if a human interlocutor could not discern it from a human being.

"There's something of the character of a nation in its money," said Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey, "and we are right to consider and celebrate the people on our banknotes."

Turing joins an illustrious roll-call on the nation's currency. The five pound note features Winston Churchill, novelist Jane Austen is on the 10 pound note and artist JMW Turner is on the 20 pound note.

After the war, Turing was persecuted for homosexuality, which was then illegal, and forcibly treated with synthetic hormones. In 1954, the codebreaker died at the age of 41 from cyanide poisoning. 

Turing received a posthumous apology from the British government in 2009 and a royal pardon in 2013, and in 2017 England and Wales introduced what is known as the "Alan Turing Law" to retroactively pardon men who were cautioned or convicted under historical legislation that outlawed homosexual acts.