Ben Poole

Colossus

I’ve just read an extraordinary (and fascinating) article about Colossus, the code-cracking computer used at Bletchley Park: BBC news - Bletchley’s code-cracking Colossus.

There’s a great quote in there about Bill Tutte, the mathematician who famously figured out the key to cracking the Nazis’ cipher:

Said Captain Roberts: “I used to see him twiddling his pencil staring into space and I wondered a few times if he was earning his corn, but he clearly was.”

See, when we coders are arsing around on our computers, what we’re really doing is thinking, oh yes :-)

In all seriousness, sixty years on I am profoundly awe-struck by the achievements of those at Bletchley Park. Read this piece (and watch the accompanying video) for a spellbinding insight into our past.

Posted at 05:53 PST on 02 Feb 2010 | colossus, bletchley+park, bbc

Comments

1. wow that is cool.
   
   are you a fan of Cryptonomicon?
   
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptonomicon
   
   great book if you haven't read it.
   John Vaughan, 02 Feb 2010 (#)
2. Very cool! I can't get enough of the fascinating stories about WWII code breaking and in particular Beltchley Park. Recently read "The Code Book" by Simon Singh and was just fab. Cryptonomicon banked!
   Colin Williams, 02 Feb 2010 (#)
3. @1 aye, a seriously good book, even if I haven't a clue of understanding the maths (and that problem gets worse in the Baroque Cycle)
   Dave Harris, 16 Feb 2010 (#)