Alan Turing's Creation Of The Bombe

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The modern day lifestyle is surrounded by computers and electronics; from the calculators used in math class to the medical apparatus used in a hospital. The world would not be where it is today without the invention of the computer, however, the computer was not invented all at once. One of the founding fathers of technology, upon which the concept of the computer was based, was the Enigma decoder, also known as the Bombe. In 1941, mathematician Alan Turing created a machine which could decode the Enigma, thus creating one of the core founders of the computer. Primarily, Alan Turing grew up in London, England and proceeded to prove a series of unsolvable mathematical theories. Secondly, through his extensive knowledge and understanding of…show more content…
It is at this point that Alan Turing truly made a name for himself, though his works would not be applauded until long after his death. The Germans were using a highly complicated machine to encrypt all their messages called the Enigma. An enigma is comparable to a series of locks and configurations to prevent anyone else from reading their private messages. Through this method, the Germans were able to communicate via Morse code about private affairs without fear of anybody else finding out. To increase their secrecy, the configuration would be reset each day. The first layer of the Enigma is the plugboard which switches letters around, such that when a letter is typed in on the typewriter the machine switches it with another letter Second, there are three wheels, each containing 26 letters and a wire. When the scrambled letter signals to the first wheel, it rotates by one letter and passes on the signal to the second and third router which each rotate respectively. This scrambled signal then is sent back through the wheels and lights up the seemingly random letter. To increase security, the Germans would switch the plugboard each night and would occasionally set the wheels to begin at a letter other than A. Unfortunately it would take far too long for the Bombe to decode every single letter before the end of the day. The Bombe would search for words which…show more content…
Alan Turing was arrested for being a homosexual who was then forced to take strong hormones to cure his “disease”. Two years later, Alan Turing committed suicide which was a true tragedy to both the scientific and mathematical community at large. Though some of his work was left unfinished, is biggest legacies and discoveries lived on. Today the computer is used for communication, entertainment, business and scientific advancements. The world would not be where it is today without the discoveries of Alan Turing. People began to build off of his findings which now allow students to take online courses without the hassle of the thousands upon thousands of pages of coding behind the
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