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Enigma-Cracking Bombe Recreated
toxcspdrmn writes "Volunteers at Bletchley Park have recreated a working replica of the electromechanical bombe used to crack the Germans' Enigma encryption. The bombe was designed by Polish cryptologists and refined by Alan Turing and colleagues at Bletchley Park. The replica joins a recreated electronic Colossus — generally considered the first electronic computer. Impressive work when you consider that Winston Churchill ordered the originals to be completely destroyed at the end of WWII."
Does it run NetBSD?
It's truly a testiment to the brilliance of these people, that they were able to do so much with so little in the way of computing power. It's a shame that Alan Turing met such an unfortunate fate, with all he did for modern computing.
(It's never too late to join the Renaissance)
Imagine beowulf cluster of these. It would be colossus!
Extreme Programming - Redundant Array of Inexpensive Developers
How on earth can you mention this device without saying Rejewski's name? He is the one that originally cracked the enigma code, and did all of the hard cryptanalysis long before those guys in the UK got anywhere. He barely gets a footnote in history, while the machines that were built get all of the credit. Ultimately they were just collections of vaccuum tubes - it was Rejewski that gave them a purpose. Turing was brilliant of course and should be revered, but not alone.
I submitted this story last night, and it didn't get posted.
Anyone know why Churchill ordered it destroyed? I don't quite understand the purpose of doing so.
Big apple, new Yorik, undig it, something's unrotting in Edenmark.
Somebody set up us the bombe!
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
It's not very well known but the unusual name 'bombe' actual caused the entire hip hop explosion in the US, for which Alan Turing is directly responsible. As well we as the Undecidability problem, Turing machines and the Turing test, Turing was responsible, after a demonstration of the code breaking machine to top UK officials at the MOD received a standing ovation, to have remarked "Truly gentlemen this machine represents the finest British engineering, and is da bombe".
It is unknown when the final e from bombe was dropped.
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There's others. Check the Wikipedia entry
Hopefully they'll do more than just display it. I would love to hear the ticking sound of one running. (Incidentally, that's where the name "bombe" comes from.)
Have fun: Join D.N.A. (National Dyslexics Association)
Actually, the title 'First Electronic Computer' is not as cut-n-dried as that. There is good evidence that the title should really go to the Z3 from Conrad Zuse. Other that Mauchly/Eckert his system is generally considered to be the best contender for first electronic computer.
http://www.idsia.ch/~juergen/zuse.html
The actual approach to technology of the MOD is this:
Ignore British invention for 20 years or so
Buy it when it is produced in the US
Claim that British technology is inadequate and we must always follow the Americans.
And if you think I'm bitter about the Cocks encryption method (RSA), or the entire postwar history of British technology - yes, I am.
Pining for the fjords
Still, I found some more.
Dark Reflection
Yes Colossus is a digital computer. It was partially re-programmable. I think you were thinking of the bomba which is simply an Electro-Mechanical device.
Colossus was used to break the Lorenz SZ 40/42 cipher used for communicating between high level members of Hitler's regime. The Lorenz teleprinter had 12 rotors as opposed to the 4 wheels on the Enigma. The bomba was uses to break the 4 wheel Enigma.
Because the Colossus machine was highly classified for many years Tommy Flowers and his team were deprived of the recognition they deserve.
>But then again we did something similar to Babage and his difference engine.
Babbage got suprisingly generous funding, but unfortunately he was ahead of his time in another way -- he practiced feature creep. He kept redesigning while the machine was being built, which is part of the reason he needed such generous funding.
It's just you. The british bombe's were used on the 3-rotor enigma but couldn't handle the naval 4-rotor enigma. The american version was a bigger variant (and there were many more of them) to handle the much more difficult naval variant.
Useless objection. We all understand that Turing-completeness requires infinite memory. So, when we say that a machine is Turing-complete, we are understood to mean "This machine is Turing-complete qua available memory".
Oh. I'm sorry. I didn't realize that you were disrupting the conversation just to show off your alleged mental prowess.
FATMOUSE + YOU = FATMOUSE
A true shame is the way the Bletchley Park Museum is treated by the UK government and heritage authorities - they got turned down from national heritage funding and the whole place is operating on a shoe string. There are great volunteers (some of whom worked there in the war) who will take you on guided tours. It's really an amazing place to visit. Go there!
But they need financial help to keep the place running. Parts of the place really need financial investment - the Huts where the code breaking happened are barely standing. They've had to sell off some of the land around the house to developers (who are building a housing estate) to pay for the upkeep. Some of the volunteers were going round interviewing people who'd worked there during the war, they were so short of money that once they'd transcribed the interviews, they'd tape over the recordings and use the same tape again in the next interview to save money on buying new audio tapes.
If you think the work carried out at Bletchley Park during the war was valuable, or fascinating, contribute to keeping the place running as a museum. Visit the place! Buy some cool stuff from the shop! send them a donation! Please.