Colossus Computer History

Throughout all of this long years, ever since the end of World War II, our development of weapons and medicine had improved a lot, but we never actually stopped to wonder when this was so important and how it was actually needed for an emergency, and how people needed this improvement for the safety of their lives. This day, where it all was necessary was during World War II, which demonstrates how science improved life and war techniques, the colossus computer was created, and many people were responsible for the advancements of technology and science during World War II.

The colossus computer was one of the first computers used to decipher secret codes in 1944 (princeton.edu). The designer of this ingenious machine, who paid with his own money for the computer to be built, was Tommy Flowers, a British engineer. He created this computer with the intention of making it easy for soldiers to decode top-secret German army messages, which were sent using Lorenz cipher, a rotor stream cipher machine that converted the messages into a code ready to be transported. This invention was a very good idea because it wasn’t only a reliable machine, but it also enlarged technology regarding to electronic computers. In order to decipher the code it is necessary to pass through certain stages (BBC News). To begin with, the colossus computer first needs to capture radio signals so it can later be sent to the paper tape, a procedure in which the information is saved in the memory of the device at a rate of 5,000 characters per second. With the information saved on the inside of the computer it passes to the stage of analysis. During this phase, patch panels, plugs and program switches are used to carry out the final inspection, meaning that the r...

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...prevent mines and to detect the enemies’ submarine under water, the anti-acoustic torpedo, which helped soldiers to prevent to be hit by a torpedo, and many more things that improved war techniques. Just as many scientists, Canadians acknowledge the work of atomic energy so they started to study and research on this specific topic. Thanks to their hard work, nowadays war techniques had improved and it is now easier to protect both citizens and their soldiers.

World War II was a time where inventions that changed the world were created. Some of the technologies used back then are been operated nowadays, but in a more sophisticated manner. It also explains how some people thought differently from others, meaning that just like scientist and Canadians some preferred the development of war machines rather than those who favor the safety of the citizens and soldiers.