It’s no secret we have a special fondness for Bletchley Park . The pioneering work carried out there didn’t just crack codes—it laid the foundations for the computer age. Tommy Flowers . Bletchley Park’s breakthroughs were the product of theoretical mathematical brilliance combined with dazzling feats of engineering—none more so than Flowers’ creation of Colossus , the world’s first programmable, electronic computer. Photo of Dr. Thomas “Tommy” Flowers. Reproduced with kind permission of the Flowers family
Lorenz , used by Germany for their most top-secret communications. Initially Lorenz messages were broken by hand, using ingenious but time-consuming techniques. To speed things up, it was decided to build a machine to automate parts of the decoding process. This part-mechanical, part-electronic device was called Heath Robinson , but although it helped, it was unreliable and still too slow. relays and thermionic valves for switching, thanks to his research developing telephone systems. Initially, he was summoned to Bletchley Park to help improve Heath Robinson, but his concerns with its design were so great he came up with an entirely new solution—an electronic machine, later christened Colossus.U.K.’s Post Office research centre at Dollis Hill in London to approve the project instead. Working around the clock, and partially funding it out of his own pocket, Flowers and his team completed a prototype Colossus in just 10 months. Photo of the rebuilt Colossus which you can visit at The National Museum of Computing in the U.K. Reproduced with kind permission of The National Museum of Computing. Official Secrets Act . Eight of the machines were dismantled, while the remaining two were sent to London where they purportedly were used for intelligence purposes until 1960. It wasn’t until the 1970’s that Colossus could begin to claim its rightful crown at the forefront of computing history. new gallery dedicated to Colossus at the U.K.’s National Museum of Computing , based at Bletchley Park. The rebuilt Colossus is on show, and over the coming weeks it will be joined by interactive exhibits and displays. Bletchley Park is less than an hour from Central London, and makes a fitting pilgrimage for anyone interested in computing. Posted by Lynette Webb, Senior Manager, External Relations (Cross-posted from the Official Google Blog )
You may care to sign the recent e-Petition calling for a long overdue memorial to Tommy Flowers and Alan Turing at:
ReplyDeletehttp://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/29811
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