The Colossus: The Influence Of German Codes In Germany

Currently, computers are used for everything in life. For example, from researching for a large essay project to playing video games with friends. “From the outset, computers were weighed for both military and commercial significance, and hence they straddled the very institutional boundaries that central to this study. It is also significant that computers became valuable research instruments in nearly all disciplines.” (Akera, 2). The first digital computer was constructed in 1946 by John Mauchly, a professor, and Presper Eckert, an inventor. “They met by chance in 1941 at the University of Pennsylvania’s Moore School of Engineering. They soon developed a revolutionary vision: to use electricity as a means of computing--in other words, to make electricity "think."” (McCartney, 1). They were ignored by their colleagues, but in 1943 they were becoming more well known and was funded by the U.S Army. The U.S Army was seeking for a contraption that can quickly calculate ballistic missile trajectories in wartime Europe and Africa (McCartney, 1). John Mauchly and Presper Eckert led a team that constructed the computer that occupied 1,800 square feet and weighed thirty tons. They named the large computer, ENIAC, Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer. The process of building this machine was not an effortless task, Mauchly and Presper and their team had to overcome many problems

A dramatic transformation in the advancement of technology has continued to evolve since the 1950’s. As computers started out, they were very expensive to make, they were slow and the computers were very basic. Now in days people can carry computers in their backpack but in the 90s, the computers would take up a whole room. The reason their computers were so large was because they required magnetic drums to store memory for the computer and vacuum tubes as switches and amplifiers. Today, these devices are built into our computers and other time they made them more compact. Also, as time went on, we received faster and more advanced technology. We are still using computers from the 1950s today; they are just highly advanced versions of their

There have been many advances since the initial invention of the computer fifty years ago. Today, computers operate many of the things that we use in everyday life. Some examples of these things are farm machinery, cars, planes, video games, heat and water delivery to our homes, banking, billing, and even the stock market. The advances of the computer have resulted in the

During World War II, the Germans used a type of code that is almost impossible to break. They used this code to communicate between each other and would get directions of where to go and also state where their locations are through that code. What made that code unique was the way that they used it. The way their code worked would be that someone would write a letter in a machine, and then the machine would print a coded version of the message. But that was not the worst part of it. At the end of every day, they would change the key to the messages, all at the same time in a synchronized manner. The way that the Enigma machine was built made it even more complicated to understand. “There are approximately 150,000,000,000,000 - that is, 150 million million - possible combination” (Claire Ellis “Exploring the Enigma”). Alan Turing started working in a

From the progression of the machine gun to the development of the atomic bomb and further still to today and stealth aircraft technology, the United States has consistently pushed the envelope on innovation in order to say one step ahead as a military superpower. With this being an online course, one would be remiss to not note the great American accomplishment of creating a computer communication network through the collaboration between the Department of Defense, engineers and scientists during the Cold War.

5 remarkable British scientists had gotten their hands on an actual Enigma machine smuggled out of Berlin. They had put tremendous effort into decoding the Nazi's messages by using their cryptanalytic abilities but had failed because of the lack of information on the machine's

The origin of the computer resides with the military. The computer itself was created by the military during the Cold War era, when we were in a technological race with Russia. This race was the fuel for massive advancements in technology especially in the sector of computer intelligence. The first Computer’s were physically large enough to fill an entire room. They were used to manage large quantities of data in textual and numerical form. The government backed certain research facilities in the advancement of the computer and some investigated and experimented in computer technology with art and music. 1

The Colossus Mk 1 or the first analogue computer, a response to the German enigma code, was first shown working in December of 1943 and later the Colossus Mk 2,

In a world that is currently dominated by computers, it’s hard to imagine what it was like before they were invented. Though computers only began having a major influence in the last 60 years, the idea for them was first conceived almost 200 years ago. This technology would not have been possible without the work of Ada Lovelace, who is considered one of the pioneers in the field of computer programming. She had a vision of the possible benefits and capabilities of a computing machine. Even though she would never see her vision become a reality, her legacy and work had a lasting impact on the future of technology. However, during her lifetime she experienced multiple setbacks in pursuing her education

Today, the Turing Bombe is not used by the military, yet the machine inspires and reminds of the importance of sciences as World War II was won with the help of the scientific community. Now, the machines are exposed in the British Museum and are part of history. Soldiers and scientific community fought against the Nazis. After World War II, Alan Turing continued to devote himself for his passion of sciences, cryptanalysis, and computers. For instance, Turing is known as the father-creator of computers as in 1941, he designed the Colossus computer (Notes). In addition, he is recognized as an important figure in the scientific community and contributed largely to everyone’s lives, as computers are indispensable in today’s generation.

In 1925, the Germans decided that they wanted a better way to encrypt their messages for the Army and other militaries. They found the ENIGMA, a machine being produced by the Chiffriermaschinen Aktiengesellschaft Company for encrypting messages in a business setting. (Mowry, 1) The Germany Army got a hold of it and adapted it for their purposes. The machine contained a keyboard with all the letters of the alphabet hooked to three

“With German invasion imminent in 1939, the Poles opted to share their secrets with the British, and Britain's Government Code and Cipher School (also known as GC&CS) Bletchley Park, Buckinghamshire, became the centre for Allied efforts to keep up with dramatic war-induced changes in Enigma output.” (Andrew Lycett, BBC.co.uk) If the Allies had access to decoded German communication, then they would have the upper hand. The Germans were so confident in the Enigma code that they used it to encrypt most all of their messages during the war. Since it was a difficult and sensitive task, Bletchley Park needed Britain’s best minds to work together. “He (Alan Turing) was already working part-time for the British Government’s Code and Cypher School before the Second World War broke out. In 1939, Turing took up a full-time role at Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire-” (Imperial War Museums). Alan Turing was a very intelligent mathematician and at this point, he was proving this to many others. His genius was exactly what this problem needed. After Britain declared war on Germany, they immediately sent people to work on cracking the Enigma. It was believed to be an impossible task, and yet they put their best efforts into working on it with the help of

During World War II, wireless radio communication was imperative for directing military forces spread throughout the world. However, these radio messages could be intercepted which meant that the secret information such as military plans and orders had to be transmitted in code. All the major war powers used complex machines that turned ordinary text into secret codes. (Cryptology in WWII) The Enigma machine, the device that the German’s used to encode their radio messages, was produced commercially beginning in the early 1920s. (Britannica) The Polish Cipher Bureau had the earliest success in breaking the German Enigma code. From 1932–33 Polish mathematician Marian Rejewski deduced the pattern of wiring inside the three rotating wheels of the Enigma machine. He was helped by photographs, received from the French secret service, showing pages of an Enigma operating manual, as well as a German traitor (Cryptology in WWII). Between 1933 and 1939 they were able to read the encrypted German transmissions. In 1939 the codebreaking information,

What is machine before year 1935, it was an individual who do the number juggling estimations. Between year of 1935- 1945, definition alluded to machine, as opposed to an individual. The machine is focused around von Neumann's idea where gadget can accessto information, forms information, saves information, and produces output.it has experienced from vacuum tube to transistor, to the microchip.microchip starts conversing with modem. Nowdays we trade content, sound, photographs and films in a nature's turf.

　　The key period of the evolution of modern electronic computer is in between the late 1930s and the early 1950s. Not all of them were invented by the mathematician or physician. Among those machines were pioneering computers put together by english academics notably Manchester/Ferrenti Mark 1, built at Manchester University by Frederic Williams and Thomas Kilburn. And the EDSAC, Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator built by Maurice Wilkes at Cambridge University.