Christopher Morcom

Christopher Collan Morcom (13 July 1911 – 13 February 1930) was an English student mathematician, scientist and astronomer. He is known for being a childhood friend of Alan Turing, the founder of modern computer science. Morcom has been described as Turing's first love, but this affection is not known to have been reciprocated. The two bonded over mathematics and science, and their relationship is depicted in the 2014 film The Imitation Game, which contains several inaccuracies. Morcom was born in Fockbury, Worcestershire, to a wealthy family involved in the arts and sciences; his mother, Frances Isobel Morcom, was a sculptor, and his father an engineer. He was the grandson of Sir Joseph Swan, an inventor of the incandescent light bulb. Morcom was educated at King's Mead School in Seaford, East Sussex, from 1922 to 1925, and at Sherborne School in Dorset from 1925 to 1929. He excelled at Sherborne and was awarded several scholarships and prizes. In December 1929 he was awarded a scholarship at Trinity College, Cambridge, but died before he could begin his studies there. Morcom contracted bovine tuberculosis at a young age after drinking infected cows' milk. This led to his death in 1930, at the age of 18, which devastated Turing. Morcom's mother subsequently commissioned a stained-glass window in memory of him, designed by the artist Karl Parsons, for Christ Church, Catshill. It depicts Saint Christopher carrying the Christ Child across a river on his shoulders; the face of the child was probably modelled on that of Morcom. The family also created the Christopher Morcom Prize for Science at Sherborne School.