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Published in:
2020 | OriginalPaper | Chapter
22. Computer Development in the UK
Author : Herbert Bruderer
Published in: Milestones in Analog and Digital Computing
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
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Abstract
The chapter “Computer Development in the UK” focuses on the events in Bletchley Park, with particular emphasis on the Enigma cryptographic machine. For decades only little was known about the Turing-Welchman Bombe and the Colossus machines, with the help of which the coded radio messages of the Nazis were cracked and for which functional reconstructions have been built. The portrayal of these events includes a list of code names and difficult to understand specialized expressions as well as a chronological table. The development of computers at the universities in Manchester, Cambridge, and London (Birkbeck College) is also described. Familiar computer brands were, e.g., Elliott, Ferranti, and Leo. The Harwell machine is considered the oldest still functional relay computer. Early transistor computers were built in Manchester. A chronological table of the first British relay and vacuum tube computers rounds out the presentation.