A bronze bust of Alan Turing OBE, PhD, FRS (1912-1954) unveiled at Sherborne School on 26 June 2021 by his nephew, Sir Dermot Turing, is the work of acclaimed sculptor David Williams-Ellis whose recent work includes the D-Day sculpture at the British Normandy Memorial. The bust stands at the heart of Sherborne School overlooked by the library where Alan Turing studied. Around the plinth are the words – CODEBREAKER, FATHER OF COMPUTER SCIENCE, MATHEMATICIAN, THEORETICAL BIOLOGIST.
Sir Dermot Turing said at the unveiling: “It is a great pleasure to officially unveil the new bust of Alan Turing here at Sherborne today. Alan Turing was stimulated by the quality of teaching here back in the 1920s which laid the foundation of his interests in mathematical logic, computer science, and developmental biology. While he may be best known nowadays as a code-breaker, in his lifetime he was celebrated as a pioneer of computer development, and his ideas underpin all our modern technology. I hope that his presence here, in the form of David Williams-Ellis’s sculpture, will inspire new generations of students to achieve great things in their turn.”
The bust joins a small, but growing, group of sculptures of Alan Turing that can be seen around the world:
- Bust of Alan Turing by Wayne Chabre, Deschutes Hall, University of Oregon, USA (1989)
- Silicon bronze statue of Alan Turing by Glyn Hughes, Sackville Gardens, Fairfield Street, Manchester, UK (2001), shows Alan sitting on a park bench and holding an apple. The words ‘Founder of Computer Science’ are written in Enigma code on the bench and a pride flag in mosaic has been inlaid into the pavement at his feet.
- Bronze statue of Alan Turing by John W. Mills, University of Surrey Campus, Guildford, Surrey, UK (2004)
- Stacked slate sculpture of Alan Turing by Stephen Kettle, Bletchley Park, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, UK (2007)
- Two-dimensional steel sculpture of Alan Turing, part of the Sustrans’ Portrait Bench series, St. Mary’s Terrace, Paddington, London, UK (2013)
- Bust of Alan Turing, Southwest University, Chongqing, China (2013)
- Bronze bust of Alan Turing by MacKenzie & Son, Association of Computing Machinery HQ, New York, USA (2016). Made to mark the 50th anniversary of ACM’s A.M. Turing Award honouring innovators who have shaped the foundations of programming language compilers and algorithms,
- Future sculptures include a proposed 12 ft tall abstract steel sculpture by Sir Antony Gormley to commemorate Alan Turing at King’s College, Cambridge, UK
See also:
For further information about the Sherborne School Archives please contact the School Archivist
Return to the School Archives homepage