Several Burr boys were among the party of 36 mathematicians from year 11 who visited the birthplace of the electronic computer, Bletchley Park, today.
They did some practical cryptanalysis with a pocket Enigma, with a single rotor, and were allowed a hands-on moment with the real thing. This three-rotor cipher machine was the standard issue to Hitler's forces in the second world war, and the ingenuity of the codebreakers at Bletchley in being able to read secret messages is said to have shortened the war by up to two years.
They also met Tony Sale, the man who rebuilt the Colossus machine, which was the first electronic computer. It was used to break the much more advanced, 10-rotor Lorenz cipher machine used for top-level strategic messages between Berlin and HQs in occupied Europe. The fascinating story behind this is at http://www.codesandciphers.org.uk/
I'm grateful to the Maths Department for letting me come along. I'm delighted that I now have an Enigma app on my Android Phone, and am ready to send out the end of term reports in encrypted form.
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