News

Thursday 29th May 2003

On 26th April students and staff from Information Systems went to Bletchley Park to gain some insight into some of the secret work carried out there. During World War II scholars-turned-codebreakers aimed to crack the Nazi Enigma code which was central to German military communications. The odds against their success were a staggering 150,000,000, 000,000,000,000 to one. They did succeed, however, and helped to shorten WWII by at least two years, saving countless lives.

After a short introductory talk and film by our very experienced tour guide we were shown around the museum which tracked the journey that a coded message took. It included working examples of Enigma and other coding machines plus a replica of the Turing Bombe device and we were fortunate enough to be able to see the rebuild of Colossus, the world’s first programmable electronic computer, and be able to talk to someone actually involved in piecing together the huge machine.

It was a very awe-inspiring and informative afternoon, helped very much by the warm and sunny weather, and although this tour was aimed specifically at the Information Systems students we believe that most would find it enjoyable! This visit will become an annual event in the Spring Term as a field trip for students taking the Information Security module.

Learn more about:

• Information Systems at Buckingham
• Bletchley Park ( external link )

Report by Julie Skoulding and the Web Team