Difference between revisions of "Colossus Computer"
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| − | + | The Colossus is arguably the first, digital computer in human history. Created during World War II in order to decipher encrypted German messages sent by the Lorenz Cipher, it stands as both an influential, technological masterpiece as well as a singular creation unto itself. Although its creation spawned a technological revolution in terms of electronic computation, its existence remained secret for over 30 years. Unlike the majority of technological media, the Colossus Computer was built with a singular purpose in mind, achieved its goal, and was immediately destroyed. It was never re-appropriated for a new use, except perhaps as an historical object, as it has recently been 'restored' as part of a museum for World War II code breaking at Bletchley Park. | |
| − | + | In this way, as a technological medium, the Colossus is both hugely influential and entirely unique. Its role as a translator of another medium, that of German code, is a position not seen easily today. Perhaps this is why the Colossus can be easily forgotten, but deserves acknowledgement and remembrance. | |
| − | + | ||
== Life of the Colossus == | == Life of the Colossus == | ||
Revision as of 19:55, 8 November 2010
The Colossus is arguably the first, digital computer in human history. Created during World War II in order to decipher encrypted German messages sent by the Lorenz Cipher, it stands as both an influential, technological masterpiece as well as a singular creation unto itself. Although its creation spawned a technological revolution in terms of electronic computation, its existence remained secret for over 30 years. Unlike the majority of technological media, the Colossus Computer was built with a singular purpose in mind, achieved its goal, and was immediately destroyed. It was never re-appropriated for a new use, except perhaps as an historical object, as it has recently been 'restored' as part of a museum for World War II code breaking at Bletchley Park.
In this way, as a technological medium, the Colossus is both hugely influential and entirely unique. Its role as a translator of another medium, that of German code, is a position not seen easily today. Perhaps this is why the Colossus can be easily forgotten, but deserves acknowledgement and remembrance.
Contents
Life of the Colossus
Cryptography Before Colossus
A New Cipher, A New Problem
Mind of the Colossus
Tommy Flowers
Bill Tutte
Jack Good
Body of the Colossus
Shadow of the Colossus
Rebuilding
Meaning of the Colossus
Bibliography
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Budiansky, Stephen. Battle of Wits: The Complete Story of Codebreaking in World War II. New York, NY: The Free Press, 2000.
Cragon, Harvey G. From Fish To Colossus: How the German Lorenz Cipher was broken at Bletchley Park. 2003.
Copeland, B.J. “Colossus: Its Origins and Originators.” Annals of the History of Computing, IEEE. Vol. 26. No 4.
Copeland, B.J. Colossus: The Secrets of Bletchley Park’s Codebreaking Computers. Oxford University Press, 2006.
Good, Jack. “Enigma and Fish.” Codebreakers: The Inside Story of Bletchley Park. Eds. F.H. Hinsley & Alan Stripp. Oxford Univeristy Press, 1993.
Halton, Ken. “The Tunny Machine.” Codebreakers: The Inside Story of Bletchley Park. Eds. F.H. Hinsley & Alan Stripp. Oxford Univeristy Press, 1993
Hayward, Gil. “Operation Tunny.” Codebreakers: The Inside Story of Bletchley Park. Eds. F.H. Hinsley & Alan Stripp. Oxford Univeristy Press, 1993
Hinsley, F.H. “An Introduction to Fish.” Codebreakers: The Inside Story of Bletchley Park. Eds. F.H. Hinsley & Alan Stripp. Oxford Univeristy Press, 1993.
Ratcliff, R.A. Delusions of Intelligence: Enigma, Ultra, and the End of Secure Ciphers. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2006.
Sale, Anthony. “The Colossus of Bletchley Park.” IEEE Review. Vol 41 Issue 2. 1995
Sale, Anthony E. "The Colossus of Bletchley Park – The German Cipher System." The First Computers: History and Architectures. Eds. Raul Rojas and Ulf Hashagen. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2000.
Wells, Benjamin. “Advances in I/O, Speedup, and Universality on Colossus, an Unconventional Computer.” Unconventional Computation. 8th International Conference, 2009.
