Bletchley Park stamps its credentials during Alan Turing Centenary Year
Bletchley Park is celebrating the centenary year of Alan Turing with a series of special edition stamps in honour of the great man...
On February 23 Bletchley Park Trust, a registered charity, will release four first day covers celebrating Alan Turing's centenary year. The centenary of the birth of Alan Turing is on June 23.
Turing who is regarded as the father of modern computing worked for the Government Code and Cypher School (GCCS) at Bletchley Park during World War Two, and amongst his many achievements developed the Bombe, an electro-mechanical code-breaking machine.
Turing is famous not only for his influential role in the cracking of German codes which helped the defeat of Nazi forces during World War Two but also for his thinking and innovations that produced the world's first electronic, programmable computer.
In recent years he has become increasingly recognised for his lead role in the development of modern computing and artificial intelligence. His innovations have been recognised by the tech pioneers of Google nonetheless.
Last year Google donated £550,000 to Bletchley Park Trust's restoration programme partly in honour of Turing's legacy and a desire to celebrate the scientific heritage of Bletchley of which is he is associated. Google admires Bletchley and Turing it is fair to say.
Of the stamps, each first day cover will carry a single 1st class Royal Mail Turing stamp cancelled with a unique first day of issue postmark with the plan being to restrict the issue to just 500 of each one.
Produced in association with the Alan Turing Centenary Year Committee and Bletchley Park Post Office, proceeds will go towards supporting the preservation of Bletchley Park, the collection of buildings which housed the famous Nazi code-breakers that continue to inspire so many...
The stamp and envelope combinations will retail at £9.99 and are expected to grow in value such is their unique nature. The designs include a nod to Turing's work on the mathematics of patterns, and buildings at Bletchley Park associated with Turing including the cottage and hut where he worked and the room that housed the Bombe machines.
The announcement of the stamp covers also comes as Alan Turing Year 2012 gets underway in earnest.
The growing appreciation of Alan Turing's work is reflected in the rising number of countries planning Alan Turing Year celebrations this year, right across the world from Canada to France to China to New Zealand and from Switzerland to the USA. In the UK events will take place at locations associated with Turing such as the University of Manchester and Cambridge University.
Turing's stamp collection release is likely to be followed by other announcements about Turing in 2012... One prediction for the year: Google is likely to produce one of its special doodles on Alan Turing's birthday...
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