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Shocking neglect

Category history
No, for once the title isn't about Lotus marketing (although, of course, it could be).

The Times published a letter today, from over 100 leading UK computer scientists, concerning the sorry state of Bletchley Park. If you don't know, Bletchley Park was the place that Alan Turing and thousands of others worked during WW2 to crack the encryption of the 'Enigma machine'. At Bletchley not only were the boundaries of cryptanalysis pushed in breaking the German codes, but the Colussus computer was designed and built: Colossus was really the first modern computer, and a forerunner of all the standard computer architectures we see today.

Sadly, although some Enigma machines and a Colussus have been restored, and the hut in which Turing himself mainly worked has been restored, much of the site is in a very poor state of repair, and rapidly getting worse due to our lovely English weather.

There's more background to the story at The Times itself and also over at the BBC.

If/when this story develops I'll keep covering it, as I believe that this is an important piece of history that might (hopefully not) be disappearing.

Posted by Julian Woodward On 07/24/2008 |

Comments

Gravatar Image1 - That's a terrible shame. The geek community is full of people who have become financially successful. Maybe the Trust needs more visibility across "the internets" (as an American, I'm constitutionally required to mock stupid American politicians at every possible opportunity...), because all of us who make our living this way owe something to the history made at Bletchley and the people who made it.

Posted by Rob McDonagh At 15:27:09 On 24/07/2008 | - Website - |