Directory of Colossus Resources

Home > Computers > Hardware > Historical > Colossus

Colossus was the world's first programmable (to a limited extent) digital electronic computer. It was built by the British Post Office Research Station at Dollis Hill, by Thomas Flowers and crew to a design by Max Newman and associates of Bletchley Park. It was primarily designed for cryptanalysis in an attempt to break one of the cyphers used by the German military for its most secure strategic communications during WWII.

Resources in This Category

• Bletchley Park Museum : Lorenz Cipher Machine

  http://www.codesandciphers.org.uk/lorenz/index.htm
  Descriptions of the Lorenz cipher machine and the Colossus computer built to crack the code. Information on the rebuild of a working Colossus.

• Colossus at Bletchley Park

  http://www.picotech.com/applications/colossus.html
  History and photos.

• How a Computer saved the world

  http://www.acsa.net/a_computer_saved_the_world.htm
  Article from the American Computer Science Association about the history of Colossus (and IBM's involvement in WWII).

• Take a Tour of Bletchley Park

  http://www.lightstraw.co.uk/bletchley/tour.html
  Information and photos on the Colossus rebuild project at Bletchley Park.

• The Full Wiki: Colossus computer

  http://www.thefullwiki.org/Colossus_computer
  The purpose, origins, and design of the world's first programmable digital electronic computer.

Related Categories

• Home > Computers > History > Pioneers > Flowers, Tommy
• Home > Science > Math > Applications > Communication Theory > Cryptography > Historical

 

Home > Computers > Hardware > Historical > Colossus

 

---

 

Thanks to DMOZ, which built a great web directory for nearly two decades and freely shared it with the web. About us