Alan Turing’s stolen doctorate, knighthood medal recovered in Colorado
Biz West Media/Prairie Mountain Media
PUBLISHED: January 20, 2020 at 4:05 pm | UPDATED: January 21, 2020 at 9:57 by Dan Mika, BizWest Media/Prairie Mountain Media
Federal officials say they recovered mathematician and World War II-era codebreaker Alan Turing’s doctoral degree, knighthood medal and other pieces of memorabilia in Colorado in 2018, almost 36 years after they were stolen.
In filings in the U.S. District Court of Colorado on Friday, federal officials say they seized the British mathematician’s Princeton University degree, his Order of the British Empire medal and several photos, school reports and letters from his time at Sherborne School, a boarding school in Dorset, England.
According to the seizure notices, a woman named Julia Turing approached the University of Colorado Boulder in January 2018, saying she wanted to loan Alan Turing’s memorabilia to the library. Archivists at the library determined the items were stolen from Sherborne in 1984.
Based on her own admission to investigators and from Sherborne records, Julia Turing visited the school during a larger study of Alan Turing’s life and asked to see his archive, which was stored in a wooden box in a laboratory. School officials said they found a note underneath the box after the theft, reading: “Please forgive me for taking these materials into my possession. They will be well taken care of while under the care of my hands and shall one day all be returned to this spot.”
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