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The codebreaker who saved 'millions of lives'

bbc.co.uk

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Re: The codebreaker who saved 'millions of lives'

#11

Post by monk_the_dog »

m0nty wrote: post #5
ajuc wrote: post #3

Would be nice to mention the whole effort, not only Turing. Like the fact that Poles were reading Enigma encrypted messages before the WW2, and send all information they aquired to France and Great Brittain. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptanalysis_of_the_Enigma#Pol... I mean - Turing was brilliant, but why everybody only tell the story from the middle ?

I have always felt that Tommy Flowers' incredible contribution (i.e. building the first electronic, programmable computer) is all-too-frequently overlooked. I suppose it just makes a better story to talk about a lone genius rather than a group of collaborators.

I recently learned about Tommy Flowers and Colossus from this book: http://www.amazon.com/Colossus-secrets-Bletchley-code-breaki... The British kept Colossus secret for a too long and Flowers did not get enough credit (and von Neumann seems to get too much). BTW, I do recommend the above book. But we warned that it's a collection of essays by different authors so it can be uneven reading.

Re: The codebreaker who saved 'millions of lives'

#12

Post by pwaring »

ajuc wrote: post #3

Would be nice to mention the whole effort, not only Turing. Like the fact that Poles were reading Enigma encrypted messages before the WW2, and send all information they aquired to France and Great Brittain. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptanalysis_of_the_Enigma#Pol... I mean - Turing was brilliant, but why everybody only tell the story from the middle ?

It would also be good to extend the mentions beyond just codebreakers, including the Royal Navy personnel who boarded damaged U-boats in order to retrieve code books and other equipment, not knowing if the vessel would sink at any minute.

Re: The codebreaker who saved 'millions of lives'

#13

Post by m0nty »

monk_the_dog wrote: post #11
m0nty wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have always felt that Tommy Flowers' incredible contribution (i.e. building the first electronic, programmable computer) is all-too-frequently overlooked. I suppose it just makes a better story to talk about a lone genius rather than a group of collaborators.

I recently learned about Tommy Flowers and Colossus from this book: http://www.amazon.com/Colossus-secrets-Bletchley-code-breaki... The British kept Colossus secret for a too long and Flowers did not get enough credit (and von Neumann seems to get too much). BTW, I do recommend the above book. But we warned that it's a collection of essays by different authors so it can be uneven reading.

Thanks, I'll take a look at the book. Sometimes essays are fine because you can cherry-pick the good ones.

Re: The codebreaker who saved 'millions of lives'

#14

Post by jt2190 »

ajuc wrote: post #3

Would be nice to mention the whole effort, not only Turing. Like the fact that Poles were reading Enigma encrypted messages before the WW2, and send all information they aquired to France and Great Brittain. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptanalysis_of_the_Enigma#Pol... I mean - Turing was brilliant, but why everybody only tell the story from the middle ?

I once went to a birthday party. When the cake came out and everyone was singing "happy birthday", I said, in a loud, authoritative voice: "You know who really deserves a party is..."

Needless to say I wasn't invited the following year. ;-)

[The above story is totally fictitious, in order to make a point.]

Re: The codebreaker who saved 'millions of lives'

#15

Post by rmc »

ajuc wrote: post #3

Would be nice to mention the whole effort, not only Turing. Like the fact that Poles were reading Enigma encrypted messages before the WW2, and send all information they aquired to France and Great Brittain. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptanalysis_of_the_Enigma#Pol... I mean - Turing was brilliant, but why everybody only tell the story from the middle ?

I mean - Turing was brilliant, but why everybody only tell the story from the middle ?

Turing was English.

(also the allies of the UK & USA were occupying Poland.)

Re: The codebreaker who saved 'millions of lives'

#17

Post by sophacles »

davidw wrote: post #4
dsirijus wrote: post #2

If this article piqued your interest, be sure to read Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson.

Speaking of which, I recently read this: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005LW5JL2/ref=as_li_ss_tl?... Which is about WWII in the Pacific, up to the battle of Midway. He talks about the code breaking efforts in Hawaii, and I immediately recognized one of the minor characters from Cryptonimicon - the guy in charge of the cryptanalysis efforts - who was apparently a bit eccentric, and not big on military formalities.…

Several other characters in that book are also based on real people, albeit living (at time of writing anwyay) ones, so names and some details were changed, as well as adding some more speculation. For example the character Earl Comstock was pretty much Robert McNamara. A lot of the people in the 90's timeline seem to be based on real people Stephenson wrote about in his factual articles. (particularly the ones about cable laying in the pacific).

Re: The codebreaker who saved 'millions of lives'

#18

Post by xcallmejudasx »

dsirijus wrote: post #2

If this article piqued your interest, be sure to read Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson.

Cryptonomicon is a long but very good read. There's enough technical details to keep us hackers intrigued without scaring away the non techie folks. My dad read it and even though he didn't get some of the more subtle crypto jokes he very much enjoyed it without having any history of computing or security.

Re: The codebreaker who saved 'millions of lives'

#19

Post by excuse-me »

pwaring wrote: post #12
ajuc wrote: post #3

Would be nice to mention the whole effort, not only Turing. Like the fact that Poles were reading Enigma encrypted messages before the WW2, and send all information they aquired to France and Great Brittain. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptanalysis_of_the_Enigma#Pol... I mean - Turing was brilliant, but why everybody only tell the story from the middle ?

It would also be good to extend the mentions beyond just codebreakers, including the Royal Navy personnel who boarded damaged U-boats in order to retrieve code books and other equipment, not knowing if the vessel would sink at any minute.

Are you sure? All that was done by Americans - I saw the movie!
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