Colossus – Principles & Technology

Colossus, the first programmable digital electronic computer, was installed at Bletchley Park in 1943. This talk is based around the cracking of the Lorenz machine ciphers using the world’s first digital programmable electronic computers, the Colossi. It describes how they were specially designed for the task and the formidable engineering hurdles that needed to be overcome using early 1940s technology.