Colossus computer: Difference between revisions
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| type = Special-purpose electronic digital programmable computer | | type = Special-purpose electronic digital programmable computer | ||
| generation = First-generation computer | | generation = First-generation computer | ||
| | | release_date = {{plainlist| | ||
* Mk 1: {{Start date|1943|12|df=y}} | * Mk 1: {{Start date|1943|12|df=y}} | ||
* Mk 2: {{Start date|1944|06|01|df=y}}}} | * Mk 2: {{Start date|1944|06|01|df=y}}}} | ||
| discontinued = 1960 | | discontinued = 1960 | ||
| | | units_shipped = 12 | ||
| input = [[Punched tape|Paper tape]] of up to 20,000 × 5-bit characters in a continuous loop | | input = [[Punched tape|Paper tape]] of up to 20,000 × 5-bit characters in a continuous loop | ||
| media = {{plainlist| | | media = {{plainlist| | ||
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}} | }} | ||
'''Colossus''' was a set of [[computer]]s developed by British [[cryptanalysis|codebreakers]] in the years 1943–1945<ref name="tnmoc">{{cite web |title=Colossus |url=https://www.tnmoc.org/colossus |website=The National Museum of Computing |access-date=25 January 2021}}</ref> to help in the [[cryptanalysis of the Lorenz cipher]]. Colossus used [[vacuum tube|thermionic valves (vacuum tubes)]] to perform [[Boolean algebra | '''Colossus''' was a set of [[computer]]s developed by British [[cryptanalysis|codebreakers]] in the years 1943–1945<ref name="tnmoc">{{cite web |title=Colossus |url=https://www.tnmoc.org/colossus |website=The National Museum of Computing |access-date=25 January 2021}}</ref> to help in the [[cryptanalysis of the Lorenz cipher]]. Colossus used [[vacuum tube|thermionic valves (vacuum tubes)]] to perform [[Boolean algebra|Boolean]] and counting operations. Colossus is regarded{{sfn|Copeland "Introduction"|2006|p=2}} as the world's first [[computer programming|programmable]], [[electronics|electronic]], [[digital electronics|digital]] computer (the first electromechanical being [[Konrad Zuse]]'s [[Z3 (computer)|Z3]] completed in Berlin in 1941).{{sfn|Sale|2000}} | ||
Colossus was designed by [[General Post Office]] (GPO) research telephone engineer [[Tommy Flowers]]<ref name="tnmoc"/> based on plans developed by mathematician [[Max Newman]] at the [[Government Code and Cypher School]] at [[Bletchley Park]]. | Colossus was designed by [[General Post Office]] (GPO) research telephone engineer [[Tommy Flowers]]<ref name="tnmoc"/> based on plans developed by mathematician [[Max Newman]] at the [[Government Code and Cypher School]] at [[Bletchley Park]]. | ||
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A team led by Tony Sale built a fully functional reconstruction<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.codesandciphers.org.uk/lorenz/rebuild.htm|title=Colossus Rebuild - Tony Sale|website=Codesandciphers.org.uk|access-date=26 October 2017}}</ref><ref>* {{cite web |last= Sale |first= Tony |author-link= Tony Sale |title= Video of Tony Sale talking about rebuilt Colossus 2008-6-19 |year= 2008 |url= https://www.codesandciphers.org.uk/lorenz/pods/coltalk_2.html | access-date= 13 May 2017}}</ref> of a Colossus Mark 2 between 1993 and 2008.<ref name="The Colossus Computer"/><ref name="auto"/> In spite of the blueprints and hardware being destroyed, a surprising amount of material had survived, mainly in engineers' notebooks, but a considerable amount of it in the U.S. The optical tape reader might have posed the biggest problem, but [[Arnold Lynch|Dr. Arnold Lynch]], its original designer was able to redesign it to his own original specification. The reconstruction is on display, in the historically correct place for Colossus No. 9, at [[The National Museum of Computing]], in H Block [[Bletchley Park]] in [[Milton Keynes]], Buckinghamshire. | A team led by Tony Sale built a fully functional reconstruction<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.codesandciphers.org.uk/lorenz/rebuild.htm|title=Colossus Rebuild - Tony Sale|website=Codesandciphers.org.uk|access-date=26 October 2017}}</ref><ref>* {{cite web |last= Sale |first= Tony |author-link= Tony Sale |title= Video of Tony Sale talking about rebuilt Colossus 2008-6-19 |year= 2008 |url= https://www.codesandciphers.org.uk/lorenz/pods/coltalk_2.html | access-date= 13 May 2017}}</ref> of a Colossus Mark 2 between 1993 and 2008.<ref name="The Colossus Computer"/><ref name="auto"/> In spite of the blueprints and hardware being destroyed, a surprising amount of material had survived, mainly in engineers' notebooks, but a considerable amount of it in the U.S. The optical tape reader might have posed the biggest problem, but [[Arnold Lynch|Dr. Arnold Lynch]], its original designer was able to redesign it to his own original specification. The reconstruction is on display, in the historically correct place for Colossus No. 9, at [[The National Museum of Computing]], in H Block [[Bletchley Park]] in [[Milton Keynes]], Buckinghamshire. | ||
In November 2007, to celebrate the project completion and to mark the start of a fundraising initiative for The National Museum of Computing, a Cipher Challenge<ref>{{cite web |title=Cipher Challenge |url=http://www.tnmoc.org/cipher1.htm |access-date=1 February 2012 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080801175842/http://www.tnmoc.org/cipher1.htm |archive-date=1 August 2008}}</ref> pitted the rebuilt Colossus against radio amateurs worldwide in being first to receive and decode three messages enciphered using the [[Lorenz SZ42]] and transmitted from radio station DL0HNF in the ''Heinz Nixdorf MuseumsForum'' computer museum. The challenge was easily won by [[radio amateur]] Joachim Schüth, who had carefully prepared<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.schlaupelz.de/SZ42/SZ42_software.html |title=SZ42 codebreaking software |website=Schlaupelz.de |access-date=26 October 2017}}</ref> for the event and developed his own signal processing and code-breaking code using [[Ada (programming language)|Ada]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.adacore.com/home/ada_answers/lorenz-code/ |title=Cracking the Lorenz Code |website=Ada Answers |publisher=AdaCore |access-date=26 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120208010213/http://www.adacore.com/home/ada_answers/lorenz-code/|archive-date=8 February 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The Colossus team were hampered by their wish to use World War II radio equipment,<ref>{{cite news |title=Colossus loses code-cracking race |url= | In November 2007, to celebrate the project completion and to mark the start of a fundraising initiative for The National Museum of Computing, a Cipher Challenge<ref>{{cite web |title=Cipher Challenge |url=http://www.tnmoc.org/cipher1.htm |access-date=1 February 2012 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080801175842/http://www.tnmoc.org/cipher1.htm |archive-date=1 August 2008}}</ref> pitted the rebuilt Colossus against radio amateurs worldwide in being first to receive and decode three messages enciphered using the [[Lorenz SZ42]] and transmitted from radio station DL0HNF in the ''Heinz Nixdorf MuseumsForum'' computer museum. The challenge was easily won by [[radio amateur]] Joachim Schüth, who had carefully prepared<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.schlaupelz.de/SZ42/SZ42_software.html |title=SZ42 codebreaking software |website=Schlaupelz.de |access-date=26 October 2017}}</ref> for the event and developed his own signal processing and code-breaking code using [[Ada (programming language)|Ada]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.adacore.com/home/ada_answers/lorenz-code/ |title=Cracking the Lorenz Code |website=Ada Answers |publisher=AdaCore |access-date=26 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120208010213/http://www.adacore.com/home/ada_answers/lorenz-code/|archive-date=8 February 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The Colossus team were hampered by their wish to use World War II radio equipment,<ref>{{cite news |title=Colossus loses code-cracking race |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7098005.stm |date=16 November 2007 |work=BBC News |access-date=2 January 2010 |first=Mark |last=Ward}}</ref> delaying them by a day because of poor reception conditions. Nevertheless, the victor's 1.4 GHz laptop, running his own code, took less than a minute to find the settings for all 12 wheels. The German codebreaker said: "My laptop digested ciphertext at a speed of 1.2 million characters per second—240 times faster than Colossus. If you scale the CPU frequency by that factor, you get an equivalent clock of 5.8 MHz for Colossus. That is a remarkable speed for a computer built in 1944."<ref>{{cite web |title=German Codebreaker receives Bletchley Park Honours |date=27 Jan 2008 |publisher=Bletchley Park National Codes Centre |url=http://www.bletchleypark.org.uk/news/docview.rhtm/487682 |access-date=2012-04-07 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130102214431/http://www.bletchleypark.org.uk/news/docview.rhtm/487682 |archive-date=2 January 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref> | ||
The Cipher Challenge verified the successful completion of the rebuilding project. "On the strength of today's performance Colossus is as good as it was six decades ago", commented Tony Sale. "We are delighted to have produced a fitting tribute to the people who worked at Bletchley Park and whose brainpower devised these fantastic machines which broke these ciphers and shortened the war by many months."<ref>{{cite web |title=Latest Cipher Challenge News 16.11.2007 |website=TNMoC - Cipher Challenge! |url=http://www.tnmoc.org/cipher7.htm |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080418084956/http://www.tnmoc.org/cipher7.htm |archive-date=2008-04-18}}</ref> | The Cipher Challenge verified the successful completion of the rebuilding project. "On the strength of today's performance Colossus is as good as it was six decades ago", commented Tony Sale. "We are delighted to have produced a fitting tribute to the people who worked at Bletchley Park and whose brainpower devised these fantastic machines which broke these ciphers and shortened the war by many months."<ref>{{cite web |title=Latest Cipher Challenge News 16.11.2007 |website=TNMoC - Cipher Challenge! |url=http://www.tnmoc.org/cipher7.htm |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080418084956/http://www.tnmoc.org/cipher7.htm |archive-date=2008-04-18}}</ref> | ||
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[[Neal Stephenson]]'s novel ''[[Cryptonomicon]]'' (1999) also contains a fictional treatment of the historical role played by Turing and Bletchley Park. | [[Neal Stephenson]]'s novel ''[[Cryptonomicon]]'' (1999) also contains a fictional treatment of the historical role played by Turing and Bletchley Park. | ||
[[Colossus (supercomputer)]] world's largest AI supercomputer. | |||
==See also== | ==See also== | ||
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** [http://www.codesandciphers.org.uk/lectures/ieee.txt IEEE lecture] – Transcript of a lecture Tony Sale gave describing the reconstruction project | ** [http://www.codesandciphers.org.uk/lectures/ieee.txt IEEE lecture] – Transcript of a lecture Tony Sale gave describing the reconstruction project | ||
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCeLTWPCEFI Brian Randell's 1976 lecture on the Colossus] | * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCeLTWPCEFI Brian Randell's 1976 lecture on the Colossus] | ||
* [ | * [https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3754887.stm BBC news article reporting on the replica Colossus] | ||
* [ | * [https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7094881.stm BBC news article: "Colossus cracks codes once more"] | ||
* [ | * [https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8492762.stm BBC news article: BBC news article: "Bletchley's code-cracking Colossus" with video interviews 2010-02-02] | ||
* [http://www.colossus-computer.com/contents.htm Website on Copeland's 2006 book] with much information and links to recently declassified information | * [http://www.colossus-computer.com/contents.htm Website on Copeland's 2006 book] with much information and links to recently declassified information | ||
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20081031050216/http://www.bcs.org/upload/pdf/ewic_tur04_paper3.pdf Was the Manchester Baby conceived at Bletchley Park?] | * [https://web.archive.org/web/20081031050216/http://www.bcs.org/upload/pdf/ewic_tur04_paper3.pdf Was the Manchester Baby conceived at Bletchley Park?] | ||
* {{YouTube|NWYzwIjSk6s|Walk through video of the Colossus rebuild at Bletchley Park}} | * {{YouTube|NWYzwIjSk6s|Walk through video of the Colossus rebuild at Bletchley Park}} | ||
* [http://www.virtualcolossus.co.uk online virtual simulation of Colossus] | * [http://www.virtualcolossus.co.uk online virtual simulation of Colossus] | ||
* {{Cite news |title=Move over, Alan Turing: meet the working-class hero of Bletchley Park you didn’t see in the movies |work=The Guardian| url= https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/oct/12/move-over-alan-turing-meet-the-working-class-hero-of-bletchley-park-you-didnt-see-in-the-movies |first=Andrew |last=Smith |date=12 October 2025}} | |||
{{Mainframes}} | {{Mainframes}} | ||
[[Category:1940s computers]] | [[Category:1940s computers]] | ||