People in Swindon will be able to see one of the few working code cracking enigma machines in a demonstration hosted by the Wiltshire Branch of the BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT on 24 May. Nick Miers from Bletchley Park and Dr. Sue Back will be showing why Churchill described the code-breakers at Bletchley Park as the “geese that laid golden eggs but never cackled”.
Since the declassification of WWII secrets the incalculable impact the Bletchley Park operations had on the final outcome has become more apparent. The Germans regarded their Enigma cipher as unbreakable, but building on the success of Polish code-breakers, teams stationed at various huts in Bletchley Park were able to decipher and analyse intercepted enemy messages. To speed up the process, the brilliant mathematician Alan Turing developed an electromechanical machine known as Colossus, the precursor of the modern computer, to break the daily changing Enigma codes.
Nick Miers, from Bletchley Park, will talk about the history of code breaking in World War II and demonstrate an Enigma machine, showing how 150 million million combinations were possible. He will also talk about Colossus – the world’s first computer – which was invented at Bletchley Park.
Because of the secrecy associated with Bletchley Park, the site was allowed to go into disrepair. In 1992 the Bletchley Park Trust was formed to maintain the site as a museum devoted to the code-breakers and their work. The trust is volunteer-based and relies on public support to continue its efforts.
Sue Black, Head of the Department of Information and Software Systems at the University of Westminster, is a passionate supporter for the work of the Trust and will be talking about the current financial situation and the campaign to save Bletchley Park.
