Sir Sidney McSprocket and the Victory Vault - Computers - Fun Kids

Och hello there… Sir Sidney McSprocket here!

My parrot Polly is still in the Victory Vault. It’s my latest invention, a totally tremendous time machine that can take us to explore incredible inventions.

I’d set the parameters to explore the dark years of the 1940s when we were at war. Come on, we better go and find her!

Scanning Location:
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Freeze Dried Coffee
Ball Point Pens and Super Glue
Jeeps
Bletchley Park.
Date – February 1944.
Invention Detected – The Computer.

Computers

We’re at Bletchley Park!

Did you know that during the war this fascinating place was home to inventions that set the course for the computers we use today?!

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The word ‘computer’ itself has a very interesting origin. It was first used in the 16th century for a person who computed, that means someone who did calculations.

Everything’s very top secret at Bletchley Park and you can’t just show anyone around. It’s not surprising really with their new gadgets!

They are getting a tremendous advantage intercepting the German’s coded messages and working out what they’re saying. The Chief reckons it’d take months off the war.

Alan Turing’s Bombe

All the code-breakers are helping crack the famous German enigma codes. The enigma machine can create over 159 quintillion possible code settings!

It used to be terribly time consuming working around the clock to break the codes by hand, but luckily the German codes are no match for Alan Turing – the iconic mathematician, and his amazing Bombe.

His mechanical Bombe machine certainly sped up the process for identifying which keys the Germans are using.

It’s quite mind bewildering how rotating drums can test different Enigma rotor settings and find the key they’re using that day. Once found, that day’s messages can be decrypted!

Colossus

Colossus was another machine created at Bletchley Park to help break a very complex German encryption machine called the Lorenz cipher.

They’re calling Colossus a computer as it not only helps break the Lorenz cipher, but can also solve a host of other problems.

How does it differ to a Turing’s Bombe? Well, rather than using rotors, it uses just the numbers one and zero.

Engineers from the General Post Office worked on the design and came up with a splendid system using electronic valves to store information. Only problem is that the printer carriage return motion is so fierce, it makes the stand it’s on shuffle across the floor and if it shuffles too far, it unplugs itself!

The Colossus has helped cut down the time needed to work out the Lorenz settings, and it has decoded MILLIONS of high grade German communications!

I wonder if Alan Turing and the team at Bletchley Park ever imagined the world of computers we would have? Their work was really transformative, helping save many lives as well as creating the world’s first large-scale electronic digital computer.

The evolution of the computer is one of the most significant legacies from the 1940s. They have transformed every aspect of modern life – from smartphones to supercomputers, they are the backbone of our digital age, connecting us globally in ways unimaginable in the 1940s.

Incredible innovation indeed!

Oh… Polly. She’s still in the Victory Vault. I better follow her… but maybe after a wee cuppa tee! Tatty bye for now!

Binary Code Bracelets

Wear your name in a secret computer code! Use beads to create a bracelet that spells out your name in binary – the language computers speak. You’ll learn how 1s and Os powered some of the first codebreaking machines. It’s a wearable piece of history! Get started here!