By Andy McCue, 18 March 2008 12:00
%20(Custom).jpg)
Bletchley Park was the secret home to Britain's top codebreakers during World War II. These wireless telegraphy huts were used by people like Alan Turing to crack the Nazi army's coded messages, such as those sent by the famous Enigma machine which Hitler believed was unbreakable.
Bletchley Park is now home to the new National Museum of Computing, which features a rebuild of the world's first electronic codebreaking computer - Colossus.
Photo Credit: Andy McCue
See more photos from Colossus here
Comments
There are 6 comments. Join the discussion
1. W.S.Becket
Thank God it was built by Bletchley Park and not Microsoft. Had we had to rely on MS during the war, I would be writing this in German.
2. Don Tregartha
And the Americans reckon they invented the computer...
Am I right in thinking this predated the ENIAC or whatever they call the first computer. Colossus was programmable, could store data, and of course was capable of thousands of complex calculations. Its only that our secret service was so paranoid that someone would find out they ever existed that this achievement was never recognised.
I've been to have a look when they were rebuilding it, I'm going back soon.
3. Dr John Dimmock
Sir Tommy Flowers, if you don't mind.
It took him 50 years, due to the Official Secrets Act before he could get this accolade.
Sir Tommy Flowers invented the world's first electronically programmable computer, and only quite recently have we been able to prove to the Yanks who for 50-odd years have claimed that honour.
My mother - still alive - and several of her friends who are also still alive and kicking were involved with the project. Interestingly, my mum was conscripted to the Royal Air Force (RAF) not the Women's Royal Air Force (WRAF).
4. James Lewis-Williams
"Am I right in thinking this predated the ENIAC or whatever they call the first computer."
Yes, but it did not predate the Z3, developed by German aircraft engineer Konrad Zuse in 1941. This was a binary electronic computer that used holes punched in old movie film as its programming medium, because paper was in short supply in Germany during the war. He even formed a company, Zuse Apparetebau, to manufacture his machines.
Zuse tried to interest the Nazi government in funding a fully electronic computer using valves ("tubes" in USA) but the Nazis were not interested!
5. Philip Virgo
So who did order the destruction of the Colossi?
6. Dan Clement
Makes me proud to live in Bletchley.