Pure folly: Turing family join fight to save ‘blue-skies maths’ from neglect

As hard-pressed universities axe abstract study, the codebreaker's great niece and top mathematicians are fighting back

Almost exactly 80 years ago, British codebreakers made a crucial breakthrough. Using methods developed by the mathematical genius of Alan Turing, they were able to decipher the Enigma code that the Nazis were using on the eastern front in the second world war, gaining another crucial advantage for the allies.

Yet even as Turing's contribution has begun to be accorded its proper importance, there are growing concerns among Britain's most prominent mathematicians - and Turing's own family - that a search for the Turings and Newtons of the future is being dented by declining opportunities to study pure mathematics.