A rare and significant archive of Alan Turing's unpublished Second World War papers has found a permanent home in the UK after an export ban prevent them from being taken abroad.
The World War II code breaker who lived on Adlington Road in Wilmslow from 1950-54, was a key figure in cracking Germany's Enigma code that helped the Allies win World War II and was later criminally prosecuted for his homosexuality.
Following his ground-breaking work on the Enigma machines at Bletchley Park, in 1943 Turing turned his attention to building a portable voice encoder for short-distance transmission to be used in military operations, with the help of electrical engineer Donald Bayley. The project was code-named 'Delilah'.
During the development work at Hanslope Park, Turing and Bayley kept a logbook of their experimental results. Bayley also kept handwritten notes of lectures Turing gave to interested Hanslope Park engineers about the mathematics behind the project, along with loose pages of diagrams, calculations, explanations, and other electronic and mathematical theorems and problems.
Unpublished evidence of Alan Turing's work has rarely survived, and the papers were at risk of leaving the country unless a UK institution or individual tried to purchase the items and retain them in the UK for the public to enjoy. The notebooks were saved thanks to a major donation from trading firm XTX Markets, Friends of the Nations' Libraries, and further support from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and King's College.
Secretary of State for Culture Media and Sport Lisa Nandy said "It's brilliant news that the Friends of the Nations' Libraries charity has successfully campaigned to save Alan Turing's vital notebooks. Turing was not only a pioneering figure in science and mathematics, but also a national hero.
"This is a powerful example of what can be achieved when private and charitable sectors come together. After a government export ban was placed on the notebooks, this collaboration has ensured that these treasures will be preserved for years to come."
The papers consist of more than 40 pages of unpublished 'Delilah' project notes written by Alan Turing and Donald Bayley and are the most important archive of Turing material to come to auction. They will join the largest collection of Turing-related documents at King's College, Cambridge. Once digitised they will become part of the Turing Papers online archive, freely available to scholars and students around the world.
Alex Gerko, Founder and co-CEO, XTX Markets said, "The 'Delilah' papers are a unique collection of notes from one of the nation's greatest mathematicians. It's important that this archive remains in the UK and is made publicly accessible, so we are thrilled to be part of that effort."
