Portrait of Alan Turing was commissioned by the ARC Art Department for the new STEM Building. Alan Turing was very influential in the development of theoretical computer science. During his short life span from 1912 to 1954 he worked on the formalization of the concepts of algorithm and computation and is considered by many to be the father of computer science and artificial intelligence. During the second world war, Turing worked as a code breaker and was instrumental in speeding up the breaking of German codes.

He was persecuted in his lifetime for acts of homosexuality. In 1952 he accepted chemical castration in lieu of a prison sentence. In 1954 he died of cyanide poisoning. Whether his death was accidental, or a suicide is still debated today.

Ren Allathkani is an alum of ARC who is currently earning a BA in Art Studio at U.C. Davis.