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| colossus bletchley park's greatest secret: Colossus Paul Gannon, 2015-01-01 In 1940, almost a year after the outbreak of World War II, Allied radio operators at an interception station in South London began picking up messages in a strange new code. Using science, math, innovation, and improvisation, Bletchley Park code breakers worked furiously to invent a machine to decipher what turned out to be the secrets of Nazi high command. It was called Colossus. What these code breakers didn't realize was that they had fashioned the world's first true computer. When the war ended, this incredible invention was dismantled and hidden away for almost 50 years. Paul Gannon has pieced together the tremendous story of what is now recognized as the greatest secret of Bletchley Park. |
| colossus bletchley park's greatest secret: Geniuses at War David A. Price, 2021-06-22 The dramatic, untold story of the brilliant team whose feats of innovation and engineering created the world’s first digital electronic computer—decrypting the Nazis’ toughest code, helping bring an end to WWII, and ushering in the information age. • Winner, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Middleton Award for a book ... that both exemplifies exceptional scholarship and reaches beyond academic communities toward a broad public audience. • A Kirkus Best Book of 2022 • Planning the invasion of Normandy, the Allies knew that decoding the communications of the Nazi high command was imperative for its success. But standing in their way was an encryption machine they called Tunny (British English for “tuna”), which was vastly more difficult to crack than the infamous Enigma cipher. To surmount this seemingly impossible challenge, Alan Turing, the Enigma codebreaker, brought in a maverick English working-class engineer named Tommy Flowers who devised the ingenious, daring, and controversial plan to build a machine that would calculate at breathtaking speed and break the code in nearly real time. Together with the pioneering mathematician Max Newman, Flowers and his team produced—against the odds, the clock, and a resistant leadership—Colossus, the world’s first digital electronic computer, the machine that would help bring the war to an end. Drawing upon recently declassified sources, David A. Price’s Geniuses at War tells, for the first time, the full mesmerizing story of the great minds behind Colossus and chronicles the remarkable feats of engineering genius that marked the dawn of the digital age. |
| colossus bletchley park's greatest secret: Colossus B. Jack Copeland, 2010-03-18 With an introductory essay on cryptography and the history of code-breaking by Simon Singh, this book reveals the workings of Colossus and the extraordinary staff at Bletchley Park through personal accounts by those who lived and worked with the computer. |
| colossus bletchley park's greatest secret: Lorenz Jerry Roberts, 2017-03-02 The breaking of the Enigma machine is one of the most heroic stories of the Second World War and highlights the crucial work of the codebreakers of Bletchley Park, which prevented Britain's certain defeat in 1941. But there was another German cipher machine, used by Hitler himself to convey messages to his top generals in the field. A machine more complex and secure than Enigma. A machine that could never be broken. For sixty years, no one knew about Lorenz or 'Tunny', or the determined group of men who finally broke the code and thus changed the course of the war. Many of them went to their deaths without anyone knowing of their achievements. Here, for the first time, senior codebreaker Captain Jerry Roberts tells the complete story of this extraordinary feat of intellect and of his struggle to get his wartime colleagues the recognition they deserve. The work carried out at Bletchley Park during the war to partially automate the process of breaking Lorenz, which had previously been done entirely by hand, was groundbreaking and is recognised as having kick-started the modern computer age. |
| colossus bletchley park's greatest secret: The Hidden History of Bletchley Park C. Smith, 2015-08-26 This book is a 'hidden' history of Bletchley Park during the Second World War, which explores the agency from a social and gendered perspective. It examines themes such as: the experience of wartime staff members; the town in which the agency was situated; and the cultural influences on the wartime evolution of the agency. |
| colossus bletchley park's greatest secret: The Forgotten Giant of Bletchley Park Harold Liberty, 2022-07-20 In recent years, the work of the Bletchley Park codebreakers has caught the public’s imagination with books and films. While men such as Alan Turing and Dilly Knox have been recognized, Brigadier John Tiltman has been hardly mentioned. This overdue biography reveals that ‘The Brig’, as he was known, played a key role. After distinguished Great War military service, he established himself as a skilled codebreaker between the Wars, monitoring Russian and other unfriendly powers’ messages. During World War Two he was regarded as the most versatile of cryptographers, cracking a range of codes including Japanese ones. He made the first breakthrough against the German High Command Lorenz system and what he found led to the creation of machines including Colossus, the first recognisable computer. His lack of recognition may be down to his apparent lack of association with Enigma but, in truth, he was closely involved at the start. In addition to his cryptological brilliance, ‘The Brig’ was a gifted communicator and team-builder whose character combined charm, intelligence, determination and common sense. He was key to building the special relationship with our American partners both during and after the war. Harold Liberty’s biography shines light on a man whose contribution was essential to Britain’s survival and triumph in the Second World War. |
| colossus bletchley park's greatest secret: Breaking Teleprinter Ciphers at Bletchley Park James A. Reeds, Whitfield Diffie, J. V. Field, 2015-07-07 This book is an edition of the General Report on Tunny with commentary that clarifies the often difficult language of the GRT and fitting it into a variety of contexts arising out of several separate but intersecting story lines, some only implicit in the GRT. Explores the likely roots of the ideas entering into the Tunny cryptanalysis Includes examples of original worksheets, and printouts of the Tunny-breaking process in action Presents additional commentary, biographies, glossaries, essays, and bibliographies |
| colossus bletchley park's greatest secret: The Secret Life of Bletchley Park Sinclair McKay, 2011-08-26 Bletchley Park was where one of the war’s most famous – and crucial – achievements was made: the cracking of Germany’s “Enigma” code in which its most important military communications were couched. This country house in the Buckinghamshire countryside was home to Britain’s most brilliant mathematical brains, like Alan Turing, and the scene of immense advances in technology – indeed, the birth of modern computing. The military codes deciphered there were instrumental in turning both the Battle of the Atlantic and the war in North Africa. But, though plenty has been written about the boffins, and the codebreaking, fictional and non-fiction – from Robert Harris and Ian McEwan to Andrew Hodges’ biography of Turing – what of the thousands of men and women who lived and worked there during the war? What was life like for them – an odd, secret territory between the civilian and the military? Sinclair McKay’s book is the first history for the general reader of life at Bletchley Park, and an amazing compendium of memories from people now in their eighties – of skating on the frozen lake in the grounds (a depressed Angus Wilson, the novelist, once threw himself in) – of a youthful Roy Jenkins, useless at codebreaking, of the high jinks at nearby accommodation hostels – and of the implacable secrecy that meant girlfriend and boyfriend working in adjacent huts knew nothing about each other’s work. |
| colossus bletchley park's greatest secret: Station X Michael Smith, 2004 In 1939, several hundred people - students, professors, international chess players, officers, actresses and debutantes - reported to a Victorian mansion in Buckinghamshire: Bletchley Park, known as 'Station X', where enemy codes were deciphered. This title details their remarkable achievements. |
| colossus bletchley park's greatest secret: Codebreakers Francis Harry Hinsley, Alan Stripp, 2001 With many colourful anecdotes and vivid descriptions, this is the first authentic account of daily life at Government Communications Headquarters, Bletchley Park, the most successful intelligence agency in history. Described by Churchill as the 'secret weapon' that 'won the war', the men and women of Bletchley Park here combine to write their story in full.This book gives fascinating insights into recruitment and training, together with a full and accurate account of codes and ciphers and how they are broken. |
| colossus bletchley park's greatest secret: Introduction to Computer Data Representation Peter Fenwick, 2014-04-28 Introduction to Computer Data Representation introduces readers to the representation of data within computers. Starting from basic principles of number representation in computers, the book covers the representation of both integer and floating point numbers, and characters or text. It comprehensively explains the main techniques of computer arithmetic and logical manipulation. The book also features chapters covering the less usual topics of basic checksums and ‘universal’ or variable length representations for integers, with additional coverage of Gray Codes, BCD codes and logarithmic representations. The description of character coding includes information on both MIME and Unicode formats. Introduction to Computer Data Representation also includes historical aspects of data representation, explaining some of the steps that developers took (and the mistakes they made) that led to the present, well-defined and accepted standards of data representation techniques. The book serves as a primer for advanced computer science graduates and a handy reference for anyone wanting to learn about numbers and data representation in computers. |
| colossus bletchley park's greatest secret: Computation and Its Limits Paul Cockshott, Lewis M Mackenzie, Gregory Michaelson, 2012-03-15 Although we are entirely unaware of it, computation is central to all aspects of our existences. Every day we solve, or try to solve, a myriad of problems, from the utterly trivial to the bafflingly complex. This book explains why it is possible to do computation and what the ultimate limits of it are, as understood by modern science. |
| colossus bletchley park's greatest secret: The Regularized Fast Hartley Transform Keith Jones, 2010-03-10 Most real-world spectrum analysis problems involve the computation of the real-data discrete Fourier transform (DFT), a unitary transform that maps elements N of the linear space of real-valued N-tuples, R , to elements of its complex-valued N counterpart, C , and when carried out in hardware it is conventionally achieved via a real-from-complex strategy using a complex-data version of the fast Fourier transform (FFT), the generic name given to the class of fast algorithms used for the ef?cient computation of the DFT. Such algorithms are typically derived by explo- ing the property of symmetry, whether it exists just in the transform kernel or, in certain circumstances, in the input data and/or output data as well. In order to make effective use of a complex-data FFT, however, via the chosen real-from-complex N strategy, the input data to the DFT must ?rst be converted from elements of R to N elements of C . The reason for choosing the computational domain of real-data problems such N N as this to be C , rather than R , is due in part to the fact that computing equ- ment manufacturers have invested so heavily in producing digital signal processing (DSP) devices built around the design of the complex-data fast multiplier and accumulator (MAC), an arithmetic unit ideally suited to the implementation of the complex-data radix-2 butter?y, the computational unit used by the familiar class of recursive radix-2 FFT algorithms. |
| colossus bletchley park's greatest secret: Normandy Crucible John Prados, 2011-07-05 A military intelligence expert examines the most formative battle of World War II. The Battle of Normandy was the greatest offensive campaign the world had ever seen. Millions of soldiers battling for control of Europe were thrust onto the front lines of a massive war unlike any experienced in history. But the greatest of clashes would prove to be the crucible in which the outcome of World War II would be decided. Author John Prados tells the story of how and why the tactics and battle plans of Normandy proved so formative, and reconstructs the climactic Allied Normandy breakout from both sides of the battle lines. |
| colossus bletchley park's greatest secret: Roy Jenkins John Campbell, 2014-03-27 Shortlisted for the 2014 Samuel Johnson Prize Shortlisted for the 2014 Costa Biography Award Longlisted for the 2015 Orwell Prize Winner of the 2014 Political Book Awards Political Biography of the Year Roy Jenkins was probably the best Prime Minister Britain never had. But though he never reached 10 Downing Street, he left a more enduring mark on British society than most of those who did. As a radical Home Secretary in the 1960s he drove through the decriminalisation of homosexuality and the legalisation of abortion. An early and consistent advocate of European unity, he played a decisive role in achieving British membership first of the Common Market and then of the European Union. Then in 1981, when both the Conservative and Labour parties had moved sharply to the right and left respectively he founded the centrist Social Democratic Party (SDP) which ultimately paved the way for Tony Blair’s creation of New Labour. On top of all this, Jenkins was a compulsive writer whose twenty-three books included best-selling biographies of Asquith, Gladstone and Churchill. He was the embodiment of the liberal establishment with a genius for friendship who knew and cultivated everyone who mattered in the overlapping worlds of politics, literature, diplomacy and academia. His biography is the story of an exceptionally well-filled and well-rounded life. |
| colossus bletchley park's greatest secret: Milestones in Analog and Digital Computing Herbert Bruderer, 2021-01-04 This Third Edition is the first English-language edition of the award-winning Meilensteine der Rechentechnik; illustrated in full color throughout in two volumes. The Third Edition is devoted to both analog and digital computing devices, as well as the world's most magnificient historical automatons and select scientific instruments (employed in astronomy, surveying, time measurement, etc.). It also features detailed instructions for analog and digital mechanical calculating machines and instruments, and is the only such historical book with comprehensive technical glossaries of terms not found in print or in online dictionaries. The book also includes a very extensive bibliography based on the literature of numerous countries around the world. Meticulously researched, the author conducted a worldwide survey of science, technology and art museums with their main holdings of analog and digital calculating and computing machines and devices, historical automatons and selected scientific instruments in order to describe a broad range of masterful technical achievements. Also covering the history of mathematics and computer science, this work documents the cultural heritage of technology as well. |
| colossus bletchley park's greatest secret: Eisenhower Louis Galambos, 2020-08-04 Highly accessible and sprightly written.—Library Journal Winner of the Kansas State Library's Kansas Notable Book Award In this engaging, fast-paced biography, Louis Galambos follows the career of Dwight D. Ike Eisenhower, offering new insight into this singular man who guided America toward consensus at home and a peaceful victory in the Cold War. The longtime editor of the Eisenhower papers, Galambos may know more about this president than anyone alive. In this compelling book, he explores the shifts in Eisenhower's identity and reputation over his lifetime and explains how he developed his distinctive leadership skills. As a career military officer, Eisenhower's progress was uneven. Galambos shows how Ike, with the help of Brigadier General Fox Conner, his mentor and patron, learned how to profit from his mistakes, pivot quickly, and grow as a military and civilian leader. On D-Day, Eisenhower guided the largest amphibious force in history to a successful invasion of France and a decisive victory. After the defeat of Nazi Germany, he turned to politics and was elected president in 1952. While today's fiercely partisan political climate makes it difficult to imagine a president forging consensus in Washington, that's exactly what Eisenhower did. As America's leader in an era of profound postwar changes at home and abroad, President Eisenhower sought a middle way with compromise and coalition building. He provided his country with firm-handed leadership, bringing prosperity and peace to the American people in the dangerous years of the Cold War—an accomplishment that made him one of the most influential men of the twentieth century. Destined to be the best short biography of the thirty-fourth president of the United States, Eisenhower conclusively demonstrates how and why this master of the middle way became the successful leader of the free world. |
| colossus bletchley park's greatest secret: The Secret Listeners Sinclair McKay, 2012-10-04 Behind the celebrated code-breaking at Bletchley Park lies another secret… The men and women of the ‘Y’ (for Wireless’) Service were sent out across the world to run listening stations from Gibraltar to Cairo, intercepting the German military’s encrypted messages for decoding back at the now-famous Bletchley Park mansion. Such wartime postings were life-changing adventures – travel out by flying boat or Indian railways, snakes in filing cabinets and heat so intense the perspiration ran into your shoes - but many of the secret listeners found lifelong romance in their far-flung corner of the world. Now, drawing on dozens of interviews with surviving veterans, Sinclair McKay tells their remarkable story at last. |
| colossus bletchley park's greatest secret: Secret Weapons Brian J Ford, 2013-09-20 Deep in the bunkers of Nazi Germany, many of the world's top scientists worked to create a new generation of war winning super-weapons. A few of these, such as jet aircraft and the V2 rocket, became realities at the end of the war, others never made it off the drawing-board. Written by noted research scientist, Brian Ford, this exciting book charts the history of secret weapons development by all the major powers during the war, from British radar to Japanese ray-guns, and explains the impact that these developments eventually had on the outcome of World War II. Ford also takes a look at the weapons that never made it to development stage, as well as the more radical plans, such as the idea of turning Hitler into a woman with hormone treatment. |
| colossus bletchley park's greatest secret: Historical Dictionary of Signals Intelligence Nigel West, 2012-08-31 The Historical Dictionary of Signals Intelligence covers the history of Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) through a chronology, an introductory essay, an appendix, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 300 cross-referenced entries on key personnel, SIGINT technology, intelligence operations, and agencies, as well as the tradecraft and jargon. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Signals Intelligence. |
| colossus bletchley park's greatest secret: Bletchley Park and D-Day David Kenyon, 2019-07-16 The untold story of Bletchley Park's key role in the success of the Normandy campaign Since the secret of Bletchley Park was revealed in the 1970s, the work of its codebreakers has become one of the most famous stories of the Second World War. But cracking the Nazis' codes was only the start of the process. Thousands of secret intelligence workers were then involved in making crucial information available to the Allied leaders and commanders who desperately needed it. Using previously classified documents, David Kenyon casts the work of Bletchley Park in a new light, as not just a codebreaking establishment, but as a fully developed intelligence agency. He shows how preparations for the war's turning point--the Normandy Landings in 1944--had started at Bletchley years earlier, in 1942, with the careful collation of information extracted from enemy signals traffic. This account reveals the true character of Bletchley's vital contribution to success in Normandy, and ultimately, Allied victory. |
| colossus bletchley park's greatest secret: Deathly Deception Denis Smyth, 2011-08-25 In the pre-dawn darkness of April 30, 1943, a body disguised as a Royal Marine Major washed ashore on the coast of Spain, carrying false documents indicating that the Allies were set to launch an attack on Greece, rather than Sicily. Immortalized in the film The Man Who Never Was, Operation Mincemeat is renowned as the most spectacular episode in the annals of deception. In this accurate and in-depth retelling of the story, Denis Smyth draws on a vast collection of previously unavailable documentary sources to provide many key details overlooked in other accounts of Mincemeat. He reveals how the architects of the plan navigated a maze of medical, technical, and logistical issues to deceive the enemy at the highest strategic levels. Before planting the corpse in the Spanish coastal waters via a stealthy submarine operation, the planners not only gave their dead messenger a new military identity, but also a private one--as the fiance of an attractive young woman named Pam. Nazi intelligence was fooled, falling for a ruse which ultimately saved thousands of American lives. |
| colossus bletchley park's greatest secret: Intercept Gordon Corera, 2015-06-25 The computer was born to spy, and now computers are transforming espionage. But who are the spies and who is being spied on in today's interconnected world? This is the exhilarating secret history of the melding of technology and espionage. Gordon Corera's compelling narrative, rich with historical details and characters, takes us from the Second World War to the internet age, revealing the astonishing extent of cyberespionage carried out today. Drawing on unique access to intelligence agencies, heads of state, hackers and spies of all stripes, INTERCEPT is a ground-breaking exploration of the new space in which the worlds of espionage, geopolitics, diplomacy, international business, science and technology collide. Together, computers and spies are shaping the future. What was once the preserve of a few intelligence agencies now matters for us all. |
| colossus bletchley park's greatest secret: Great British Plans Ian Wray, 2015-09-25 Can the British plan? Sometimes it seems unlikely. Across the world we see grand designs and visionary projects: new airport terminals, nuclear power stations, high-speed railways, and glittering buildings. It all seems an unattainable goal on Britain’s small and crowded island; and yet perhaps this is too pessimistic. For the British have always planned, and much of what they have today is the result of past plans, successfully implemented. Ranging widely, from London’s squares and the new city of Milton Keynes, to ‘High Speed One’, the motorways, and the secret first electronic computers, Ian Wray’s remarkable book puts successful infrastructure plans under the microscope. Who made these plans and what made them stick? How does this reflect the defining characteristics of British government? And what does that say about the individuals who drew them up and saw them through? In so doing the book casts refreshing new light on how big decisions have actually been made, revealing the hidden sources of drive and initiative in British society, as seen through the lens of ‘plans past’. And it asks some searching questions about the mechanisms we might need for successful ‘plans future’, in Britain and elsewhere. Includes foreword by the Right Honourable the Lord Heseltine CH. |
| colossus bletchley park's greatest secret: The Last Cambridge Spy Chris Smith, 2019-05-01 ‘A riveting read.’ – Professor Richard Aldrich ‘The Last Cambridge Spy is not just a fascinating, well-paced book about an interesting individual, but it also invites us to re-appraise the very idea of the “Cambridge spy ring”.’ – Sir Dermot Turing John Cairncross was among the most damaging spies of the twentieth century. A member of the infamous Cambridge Ring of Five, he leaked highly sensitive documents from Bletchley Park, MI6 and the Treasury to the Soviet Union – including the first atomic secrets and raw decrypts from Enigma and Tunny that influenced the outcome of the Battle of Kursk in 1943. In 2014, Cairncross appeared as a secondary, though key, character in the biopic of Alan Turing’s life, The Imitation Game. While the other members of the Cambridge Ring of Five have been the subject of extensive biographical study, Cairncross has largely been overlooked by both academic and popular writers. Despite clear interest, he has remained a mystery – until now. The Last Cambridge Spy is the first ever biography of John Cairncross, using recently released material to tell the story of his life and espionage. |
| colossus bletchley park's greatest secret: From Fish to Colossus Harvey G. Cragon, 2003-01-01 |
| colossus bletchley park's greatest secret: Hidden Codes and Grand Designs Pierre Berloquin, 2008 Berloquins spellbinding look at codemaking through the ages will grab historyand cryptology buffs alike, as he looks at secret codes from ancient times tothe present. |
| colossus bletchley park's greatest secret: X, Y and Z Dermot Turing, 2018-09-03 December, 1932 In the bathroom of a Belgian hotel, a French spymaster photographs top-secret documents – the operating instructions of the cipher machine, Enigma. A few weeks later a mathematician in Warsaw begins to decipher the coded communications of the Third Reich and lays the foundations for the code-breaking operation at Bletchley Park. The co-operation between France, Britain and Poland is given the cover-name 'X, Y & Z'. December, 1942 It is the middle of World War Two. The Polish code-breakers have risked their lives to continue their work inside Vichy France, even as an uncertain future faces their homeland. Now they are on the run from the Gestapo. People who know the Enigma secret are not supposed to be in the combat zone, so MI6 devises a plan to exfiltrate them. If it goes wrong, if they are caught, the consequences could be catastrophic for the Allies. Based on original research and newly released documents, X, Y & Z is the exhilarating story of those who risked their lives to protect the greatest secret of World War Two. |
| colossus bletchley park's greatest secret: The Secret World Christopher Andrew, 2018-09-04 “A comprehensive exploration of spying in its myriad forms from the Bible to the present day . . . Easy to dip into, and surprisingly funny.” —Ben Macintyre in The New York Times Book Review The history of espionage is far older than any of today’s intelligence agencies, yet largely forgotten. The codebreakers at Bletchley Park, the most successful WWII intelligence agency, were completely unaware that their predecessors had broken the codes of Napoleon during the Napoleonic wars and those of Spain before the Spanish Armada. Those who do not understand past mistakes are likely to repeat them. Intelligence is a prime example. At the outbreak of WWI, the grasp of intelligence shown by US President Woodrow Wilson and British Prime Minister Herbert Asquith was not in the same class as that of George Washington during the Revolutionary War and eighteenth-century British statesmen. In the first global history of espionage ever written, distinguished historian and New York Times–bestselling author Christopher Andrew recovers much of the lost intelligence history of the past three millennia—and shows us its continuing relevance. “Accurate, comprehensive, digestible and startling . . . a stellar achievement.” —Edward Lucas, The Times “For anyone with a taste for wide-ranging and shrewdly gossipy history—or, for that matter, for anyone with a taste for spy stories—Andrew’s is one of the most entertaining books of the past few years.” —Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker “Remarkable for its scope and delightful for its unpredictable comparisons . . . there are important lessons for spymasters everywhere in this breathtaking and brilliant book.” —Richard J. Aldrich, Times Literary Supplement “Fans of Fleming and Furst will delight in this skillfully related true-fact side of the story.” —Kirkus Reviews “A crowning triumph of one of the most adventurous scholars of the security world.” —Financial Times Includes illustrations |
| colossus bletchley park's greatest secret: Turing B. Jack Copeland, 2014 B. Jack Copeland celebrates the life and work of one of the greatest scientists of the 20th century. Best known for the role he played in cracking German secret code Enigma during World War Two, and the personal tragedy of his death aged only 41, this is an insight into to the man, his work, and his legacy. |
| colossus bletchley park's greatest secret: Before Bletchley Park Paul Gannon, 2020-10-23 The story of Bletchley Park's codebreaking operations in the Second World War is now well known, but its counterparts in the First World War – Room 40 & MI1(b) – remain in the shadows, despite their involvement in and influence on most of the major events of that war. From the First Battle of the Marne, the shelling of Scarborough, the battles of Jutland and the Somme in 1916, to the battles on the Western Front in 1918, the German naval mutiny and the Zimmermann Telegram, this cast of characters – several of them as eccentric as anyone from Bletchley Park in the Second World War – secretly guided the outcome of the 'Great War' from the confines of a few smoke-filled rooms. Using hundreds of intercepted and decrypted German military, naval and diplomatic messages, bestselling author Paul Gannon reveals the fascinating story of British codebreaking operations. By drawing on many newly discovered archival documents that challenge misleading stories about Room 40 & MI1(b), he reveals a sophisticated machine in operation. |
| colossus bletchley park's greatest secret: Les Casseurs de codes de la seconde Guerre Mondiale Sinclair McKay, 2013-02-20 De jeunes gens effarés, à peine 20 ans pour la plupart, arrivent à la gare de Bletchley au nord-ouest de Londres. De nuit, ils sont conduits jusqu’à une vaste demeure sombre, un peu effrayante. Ils ne savent pas pour quelle mission ils ont été recruté : on leur a fait promettre de garder le secret. Bienvenue à Bletchley Park, nous vous attendions ! Ainsi commence l’incroyable aventure de ces civils qui, enrôlés auprès des « Master-minds », les plus brillants cerveaux mathématiciens tel Alan Turing, ont changé le cours de l’Histoire. Dans leurs mains, des « bombes » pas comme les autres ! Des calculateurs capables de trouver la clé des messages codés nazis. Grâce à leur savoir-faire et leur ténacité, ces héros ordinaires sont parvenus à casser le code de la machine Enigma. Ils ont fait faire un immense bond à la technologie pendant la guerre, et ont ainsi donné naissance à l’informatique moderne. Sans eux, la Bataille de l’Atlantique ou le conflit en Afrique du Nord auraient pris un autre tournant Ce récit retrace l’histoire du site, l’histoire du cryptage et du décryptage, et y mêle le quotidien de ces cryptanalystes (y compris leurs histoires de cœur ou leurs efforts pour améliorer leur vie quotidienne), des hommes et des femmes recrutés pour leurs « qualités cérébrales » : intuition, logique, esprit de déduction, don pour les langues et les maths. Tout est bon pour décoder les messages de la Kriegsmarine et permettre aux Alliés de changer de stratégie en fonction des informations décryptées. Ce livre d’histoire se lit comme un roman. L’auteur décrit les lieux, l’atmosphère, les missions. Les espoirs et les frustrations, le poids de l’engagement et les distractions (patinage sur le lac, organisation de spectacles, etc.) pour ne pas céder à la pression intense de la vie autarcique et mutique (interdiction pour chacun de parler de ses travaux à d’autres membres de l’équipe). Sinclair McKay retranscrit également les paroles de vétérans qu’il a rencontrés, réalisant un véritable travail d’investigation et de reconstitution historique. Les Casseurs de codes de Bletchley Park nous embarque dans leur aventure insolite, passionnante et très instructive sur le déroulement de la guerre – bien loin des champs de bataille – au cœur du Renseignement et de la Recherche scientifique. A propos de l'auteur Sinclair McKay est un journaliste anglais du Daily Telegraph et du Mail On Sunday. Il a écrit un précédent livre sur James Bond, mais c’est avec Bletchley Park qu’il connaît la con-sécration : « Sunday Times Bestseller » avec 180 000 exemplaires vendus à ce jour. Un livre publié par Ixelles éditions Retrouvez-nous sur www.ixelles-editions.com Contactez-nous à l'adresse contact@ixelles-editions.com |
| colossus bletchley park's greatest secret: The Regularized Fast Hartley Transform Keith John Jones, 2021-09-03 This book describes how a key signal/image processing algorithm – that of the fast Hartley transform (FHT) or, via a simple conversion routine between their outputs, of the real‐data version of the ubiquitous fast Fourier transform (FFT) – might best be formulated to facilitate computationally-efficient solutions. The author discusses this for both 1-D (such as required, for example, for the spectrum analysis of audio signals) and m‐D (such as required, for example, for the compression of noisy 2-D images or the watermarking of 3-D video signals) cases, but requiring few computing resources (i.e. low arithmetic/memory/power requirements, etc.). This is particularly relevant for those application areas, such as mobile communications, where the available silicon resources (as well as the battery-life) are expected to be limited. The aim of this monograph, where silicon‐based computing technology and a resource‐constrained environment is assumed and the data is real-valued in nature, has thus been to seek solutions that best match the actual problem needing to be solved. |
| colossus bletchley park's greatest secret: Cryptography Made Simple Nigel Smart, 2015-11-12 In this introductory textbook the author explains the key topics in cryptography. He takes a modern approach, where defining what is meant by secure is as important as creating something that achieves that goal, and security definitions are central to the discussion throughout. The author balances a largely non-rigorous style — many proofs are sketched only — with appropriate formality and depth. For example, he uses the terminology of groups and finite fields so that the reader can understand both the latest academic research and real-world documents such as application programming interface descriptions and cryptographic standards. The text employs colour to distinguish between public and private information, and all chapters include summaries and suggestions for further reading. This is a suitable textbook for advanced undergraduate and graduate students in computer science, mathematics and engineering, and for self-study by professionals in information security. While the appendix summarizes most of the basic algebra and notation required, it is assumed that the reader has a basic knowledge of discrete mathematics, probability, and elementary calculus. |
| colossus bletchley park's greatest secret: Masters of the Post Duncan Campbell-Smith, 2011-11-03 The origins of the Post Office go back to the early years of the Tudor monarchy: Brian Tuke, a former King's Bailiff in Sandwich, was acknowledged as the first 'Master of the Posts' by Cardinal Wolsey in 1512, and went on to build up a network of 'postmasters' across England for Henry VIII. Over the following five hundred years the Royal Mail expanded to an unimaginable degree to become the largest employer in the country, and the face of the British state for most people in their everyday lives. But it also faced the demands of an increasingly commercial marketplace. With the election of Margaret Thatcher in 1979, the possibility of privatising the Royal Mail has prompted passionate arguments - and has added immeasurably to the difficulties of running it. In charting the whole of this extraordinary story, Duncan Campbell-Smith recounts a series of remarkable tales, including how postal engineers built the first programmable computer for the wartime code-breakers of Bletchley Park and how the Royal Mail managed to successfully continue delivering post to the front lines during two world wars, but also how they failed to avert the Great Train Robbery of 1963. He brings to life many of the dominant personalities in the Royal Mail's history - from Rowland Hill, who imposed a uniform penny post and set the great Victorian expansion on its way, to Tony Benn who championed the modernisation of the service in the 1960s and Tom Jackson who led the postal workers' biggest union through fifteen frequently stormy years up to 1982. This is the first complete history of the Royal Mail up to the present day, based on its comprehensive archives, and including the first detailed account of the past half-century of Britain's postal history, made possible by privileged access to confidential records. Today's debate over the future of the Royal Mail is shown to be just the ;atest chapter in a centuries-old conflict between its roles raising revenue and serving the public. Will its employees remain, like Brian Tuke's postmasters, servants of the Crown? This book could hardly appear at a more timely moment. |
| colossus bletchley park's greatest secret: The Spectator , 2006 |
| colossus bletchley park's greatest secret: WW2 Codebreaking People and Places Ronald Koorm, 2024-09-30 WW2 Codebreaking People and Places is the first volume of a series on a glossary of codebreaking, ‘People and Places’, brings to the reader an easily understandable account and listing, of those involved in collecting and analysing military intelligence, principally during the second world war. while some will be well known, such as Alan Turing, many others have made significant contributions to codebreaking but fail to attract the attention of the media for the most part. From an individual named ‘Wren’ who worked at a codebreaking outstation supporting Bletchley Park, to a mathematician who modified a codebreaking machine just prior to D-Day, to a ladies foundationwear factory in Hertfordshire that helped make machine components, these people and places now can be appreciated as to where they fitted-in within the overall picture of gathering, and processing enemy intelligence in wartime. The entries are cross-referenced to enable the reader to research as much or as little as they want, to dip-in to the glossary, to use it as a basis for further study, or just to learn a little more about the people that helped us win the war with our allied friends. . |
| colossus bletchley park's greatest secret: Bletchley Park Brainteasers Sinclair McKay, 2018-11-06 WOULD BLETCHLEY PARK--THE TOP-SECRET HOME OF BRITISH WORLD WAR II CODEBREAKERS--HAVE RECRUITED YOU? PUT YOUR MENTAL AGILITY TO THE TEST WITH THESE FIENDISHLY CHALLENGING PUZZLES AND FIND OUT. Have a knack for mastering Morse code? Want to discover whether your crossword hobby might have seen you recruited into the history books? Think you could have contributed to the effort to crack the Nazis' infamous Enigma code? Then this book about Bletchley Park was custom-made for you. When scouring the population for codebreakers, Bletchley Park recruiters left no stone unturned. They devised various ingenious mind-twisters to assess the puzzle-solving capacity of these individuals--hidden codes, cryptic crosswords, secret languages, and complex riddles. These puzzles, together with the fascinating recruitment stories that surround them, are contained in this book, endorsed by Bletchley Park itself. Though they had diverse backgrounds, the codebreakers of Bletchley Park were united in their love of a good puzzle. If you are of the same persuasion, put your intelligence to the test with the mind-boggling puzzles on these pages and ask yourself: Would Bletchley Park have recruited YOU? |
| colossus bletchley park's greatest secret: CYBERWARFARE SOURCEBOOK A. Kiyuna, L. Conyers, 2015-04-14 Concerning application layer DDoS attacks, Bureau 121, camfecting, cyber attack threat trends, ECHELON, Fifth Dimension Operations, Intervasion of the UK, Military-digital complex, PLA Unit 61398, Stuxnet, and more |
How strong is Marvel's Colossus? Has his strength been …
Feb 14, 2012 · Recently, Colossus has become an agent of Cyttorak, a near-immortal extra-dimensional being who is a member of a group of entities called the Octessence. These …
How was Angel Dust able to successfully fight Colossus?
Jul 3, 2016 · In 2016's Deadpool, Colossus has two main super-fights. When Deadpool fights Colossus, Colossus' skin acts like solid metal and Deadpool is unable to harm or even …
Does Colossus have powers beyond his body becoming metal?
Jun 20, 2017 · Then Colossus unleashes what's apparently a dangerous or deadly shock wave of energy in a sphere around him, which somehow built up within him as a side effect of …
marvel - How accurate is the depiction of Colossus' personality in ...
Feb 28, 2016 · Movie uses the same characterization for Colossus. He is very patient with Wade and tries to protect his student (intern) Negasonic Teenage Warhead from Wade's bad …
Does Colossus' metal "disappear" when in normal form?
Jun 5, 2014 · Colossus can transform his body tissue into an organic, steel-like substance that grants him superhuman strength enabling him to lift/press up to 75 tons and makes him …
When was it first mentioned that Colossus was made of osmium?
Oct 15, 2018 · In many modern appearances, the X-Man Colossus is made of organic osmium, a particularly dense material. Of course, many of these "scientific" facts about superheroes were …
What happens to Colossus' injuries in Deadpool 2?
May 19, 2018 · Colossus holds off the Juggernaut by taking a leaf out of Deadpool's book and fighting dirty. During this scene I saw that Colossus (in his metal form) gets his forehead …
Why is Colossus so hell bent on recruiting Deadpool?
Aug 17, 2016 · For Colossus: In this film (and throughout the comics) Colossus is the kind of character who believes in the innate goodness of people. But he is also tormented by his own …
marvel - Can Magneto control Colossus? - Science Fiction
Apr 13, 2017 · Magneto is able to hold Colossus at bay, freeze him in place or simply repel him great distances with apparently little effort, as he is seen doing in X-Men Vol 1, #112. In X-Men …
history of - Science Fiction & Fantasy Stack Exchange
Jul 26, 2018 · I know they all descended from the novel Colossus, by Dennis Jones. What was the original story that spawned this genre? Was there a short story, book, stage-play, or film …
How strong is Marvel's Colossus? Has his strength be…
Feb 14, 2012 · Recently, Colossus has become an agent of Cyttorak, a near-immortal extra-dimensional being …
How was Angel Dust able to successfully fight Colossus?
Jul 3, 2016 · In 2016's Deadpool, Colossus has two main super-fights. When Deadpool fights Colossus, …
Does Colossus have powers beyond his body becoming m…
Jun 20, 2017 · Then Colossus unleashes what's apparently a dangerous or deadly shock wave of energy in a …
marvel - How accurate is the depiction of Colossus' person…
Feb 28, 2016 · Movie uses the same characterization for Colossus. He is very patient with Wade and tries to …
Does Colossus' metal "disappear" when in normal f…
Jun 5, 2014 · Colossus can transform his body tissue into an organic, steel-like substance that grants him …
