http://blog.gmane.org/gmane.science.cryptography.bletchley-park hourly 1 1901-01-01T00:00+00:00 http://gmane.org/img/gmane-25t.png http://gmane.org http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.science.cryptography.bletchley-park/927 <pre>Thursday April 26, 2012 OBITUARY : Christine Brooke-Rose -------------------------------- Christine Brooke-Rose, who has died aged 89, began her career as an author conventionally enough in the 1950s by writing four accomplished but orthodox novels; but in 1964, following a serious illness, she published Out, an experimental novel of the sort unlikely to feature in any WH Smith summer promotion..../snip/ ...At the age of 18 Christine joined the WAAF and, due to her language skills, soon found herself transferred to Bletchley Park to translate transcriptions of decoded German messages. In a fictionalised memoir, Remake (1996), she evoked her growing fascination with language and the way it conveyed the alien nature of the enemy viewpoint : "Einsatzbereitsschaftbericht, Einsatzmeldung, Einsatzbefehl, from Keitel to Kesselring, from Kesselring to Rommel ... the otherness of the other learned young." Christine Brooke-Rose had arrived at Bletchley with only a school certificate, but the experience of working</pre> Martin Postranecky 2012-04-27T15:38:26 http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.science.cryptography.bletchley-park/926 <pre>19 April 2012 Alan Turing papers on code breaking released by GCHQ ---------------------------------------------------- By Chris Vallance BBC News Two 70-year-old papers by Alan Turing on the theory of code breaking have been released by the government's communications headquarters, GCHQ. It is believed Turing wrote the papers while at Bletchley Park working on breaking German Enigma codes. A GCHQ mathematician said the fact that the contents had been restricted "shows what a tremendous importance it has in the foundations of our subject". It comes amid celebrations to mark the centenary of Turing's birth. The two papers are now available to view at the National Archives at Kew, west London. GCHQ was able to approximately date the papers because in one example Turing had made reference to Hitler's age..../snip/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-17771962 http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/59745000/jpg/_59745028_turing.jpg http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?z6326724459&amp;z=1250248780 </pre> Martin Postranecky 2012-04-19T19:12:07 http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.science.cryptography.bletchley-park/925 <pre>Friday 06 Apr 2012 OBITUARY : Jean Gerard Leigh ---------------------------- Jean Gerard Leigh, who has died aged 88, was the woman whose photograph was used to help trick the Germans into falling for one of the greatest deceptions of the Second World War. Operation Mincemeat, which was to inspire a film called 'The Man Who Never Was' in the 1950s, was devised in the spring of 1943 by two intelligence officers, Charles Cholmondeley of MI5 and Commander Ewen Montagu of Naval Intelligence. With Churchill planning to invade Italy through Sicily, a ruse was required to make the Germans believe that the attack would take place elsewhere. Cholmondeley and Montagu devised the idea of planting false papers on an "officer" and making it look as if he had died in a plane crash at sea. Through the London coroner, they obtained the body of Glyndwr Michael, a down-and-out who had killed himself by drinking rat poison. The body was kept in cold storage while the plotters devised a cover story. The body was given milit</pre> Martin Postranecky 2012-04-06T17:08:10 http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.science.cryptography.bletchley-park/924 <pre>01 Apr 2012 Christy Campbell : a Page in the Life ------------------------------------- Christy Campbell unearthed an intimate link to Bletchley Park while researching his new book, he tells Keith Lowe By Keith Lowe I meet Christy Campbell beside a derelict building, tucked away from the main road. It is one of those bright spring mornings where the endless blue of the sky is broken only by a few vapour trails - but even the freshness of the day cannot disguise the atmosphere of decay around us. We walk past a succession of buildings, all flaking paint and mottled brickwork. Suddenly, almost miraculously, we find ourselves standing before a small Victorian stately home. In such a context, dwarfed by acres of disused Forties architecture, it looks bizarre, like the setting for an episode of Doctor Who. It is, in fact, the manor house at Bletchley Park, the centre of Britain's wartime code breaking effort. "It's amazing to think that a place like this prevented us from losing the war," says Cam</pre> Martin Postranecky 2012-04-06T16:58:30 http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.science.cryptography.bletchley-park/922 <pre>23 March 2012 The Spanish link in cracking the Enigma code -------------------------------------------- By Gordon Corera Security correspondent, BBC News A pair of rare Enigma machines used in the Spanish Civil War have been given to the head of GCHQ, Britain's communications intelligence agency. The machines - only recently discovered in Spain - fill in a missing chapter in the history of British code-breaking, paving the way for crucial successes in World War II. A row of senior Spanish military and intelligence officers stand upright in a line in front of a long elegant table in the country's Army Museum in Toledo. In front of them are two modest, slightly battered wooden boxes that are the subject of the day's unusual and high-powered gathering. Inside they contain a key part of Britain's code-breaking history. With their lids open, the distinctive black and white keypad and rotors of an Enigma machine used to encrypt communications can be seen...../snip/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazin</pre> Martin Postranecky 2012-03-23T18:25:43 http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.science.cryptography.bletchley-park/921 <pre>The Delilah Secure Speech System -------------------------------- by John Graham-Cumming on 3/6/12 http://blog.jgc.org/2012/03/delilah-secure-speech-system.html Part of the new exhibit being unveiled at Bletchley Park is the Delilah Secure Speech system that Alan Turing developed during the Second World War. Details of the system are in Andrew Hodges' excellent biography of Turing and have recently been placed in the National Archives ( references FO 850/256 and HW 25/36 for people who want to go an see them for themselves ). Delilah was intended to be fairly portable ( unlike SIGSALY ) and usable in the field (such as in a tank) and allow secure speech communication between people over radio or telephone. A team at Bletchley Park has been working to rebuild Delilah from the report ( with some assistance from GCHQ ) and I was able to see and photograph the reconstructed machine. Here are some pictures : http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wGQGRzPW7rQ/T1Xzac6YpxI/AAAAAAAABLc/hTl0T9S73bU/s1600/IMG_3183.JPG http:/</pre> Martin Postranecky 2012-03-10T18:57:32 http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.science.cryptography.bletchley-park/920 <pre>http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/mar/06/alan-turing-exhibition-enigma-codebreaker http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-17262062 http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?z6042322467&amp;z=1250248769 and as received from Christopher Tarry...: ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 6 Mar 2012 14:21:55 From: christopher tarry &lt;c.w.tarry-FhtRXb7CoQBt1OO0OYaSVA&lt; at &gt;public.gmane.org&gt; To: Martin Postranecky &lt;mp-/9YJdTTY0pwcGMUv0VjUrg&lt; at &gt;public.gmane.org&gt; Subject: Turing exhibition opening Martin, If you are collating reports of yesterday's (5th March) Alan Turing exhibition opening at Bletchley Park, this site gives a comprehensive overview: www.theregister.co.uk/2012/03/06/new_turing_exhibition_bletchley_park/ and, unlike some of the other press reports, mentions the "Delilah" speech scrambling equipment with which Turing was involved. Regards, </pre> Martin Postranecky 2012-03-10T18:20:30 http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.science.cryptography.bletchley-park/919 <pre>NATURE Volume 482 Number 7386 pp439-562 23 February 2012 doi:10.1038/482455a The English mathematician Alan Turing was born on 23 June 1912 and died tragically aged only 41, yet his influence is still felt in many fields. In this issue marking the centenary of Turing's birth, Nature hails him as one of the top scientific minds of all time ( see pages 440 and 441 ). Computer specialists and those working in fields that have exploited computer science - including Sydney Brenner ( page 461 ) and Henry Markram ( page 456 ) - explain some aspects of this remarkable legacy. For more, go to www.nature.com/turing. Cover image : Andy Potts; Turing family. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v482/n7386/index.html http://www.nature.com/news/turing-at-100-legacy-of-a-universal-mind-1.10065 http://www.nature.com/polopoly_fs/1.10065!/menu/main/topColumns/topLeftColumn/pdf/482455a.pdf http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v482/n7386/full/482459a.html http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v482/n7386/pdf/482459</pre> Martin Postranecky 2012-03-01T18:31:05 http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.science.cryptography.bletchley-park/913 <pre>Hello Bletchley Park list! I've been subscribed for a little while so I hope you don't mind me leaping in... I see in years past there has been some excellent in-depth discussion on this list of the Enigma machine, its keys and code-breaking techniques. Is it still appropriate to discuss that here? (If not I'd certainly appreciate any pointers to appropriate mailing lists or forums.) I've recently created an Enigma settings generator web page ( http://goo.gl/T80zL ) as I wanted a few things that Dirk Rijmenants' Windows tool doesn't do (including support for the pluggable reflector, D). This is in conjunction with an Android Enigma simulator ( http://goo.gl/EwywN ). I have read Philip Marks' excellent papers on UKWD, but I have a few remaining questions: - Was there any particular logic governing when UKWD settings changed? The authentic settings sheets seem to have used variously 7, 8, 9 or 10 day periods. - Was there any physical limitation on which pairs of letters could be plugged together? The</pre> Craig Heath 2012-02-10T18:27:01 http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.science.cryptography.bletchley-park/912 <pre>In case you may have not spotted this...: Sponsor a Valve on Colossus --------------------------- Please sponsor a valve on Colossus ( from £10 ) and help create a marvelous new gallery for the world's first modern computer. Colossus was built by Tommy Flowers specifically to help crack the Lorenz codes of German High Command during World War II. There were 10 working Colossi and each had 2,500 valves that performed the code-cracking calculations. The rebuilt and working Colossus will be on permanent display again at TNMOC in March. You can sponsor as many pixels as you like and add your logo or your name or nickname and url http://tnmoc.org/36/section.aspx/232 http://www.colossusonline.org/index.php http://www.colossusonline.org/get_pixels.php http://www.colossusonline.org/pixel_list.php </pre> Martin Postranecky 2012-02-09T13:59:37 http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.science.cryptography.bletchley-park/911 <pre>Wednesday 08 February 2012 Government rejects a pardon for computer genius Alan Turing ----------------------------------------------------------- Martin Wainwright But the campaign goes on in his centenary year, with support from all over the world. Leading US mathematician calls for 'hullabaloo in the UK' over the decision The government has given an initial rebuff to the campaign for a pardon for Alan Turing, the brilliant British 'father of the computer' whose career ended in tragedy after a gross indecency conviction at a time when gay sex was against the law. Signatures are gathering on an e-petition for a pardon but the justice minister Lord McNally used the precedent argument to discourage the notion in the House of Lords..../snip/ http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/the-northerner/2012/feb/07/alan-turing-pardon-lord-mcnally-lord-sharkey-computers http://www.i-programmer.info/news/82-heritage/3735-widespread-celebrations-but-no-pardon-for-turing.html http://blog.jgc.org/2012/02/uk-government</pre> Martin Postranecky 2012-02-08T18:52:29 http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.science.cryptography.bletchley-park/910 <pre>Posted by Martin Wainwright Monday 5 December 2011 guardian.co.uk Pressure grows for a Turing pardon ---------------------------------- Supporters are clicking on a new e-petition for the man whose brilliance underlies the laptops, mobiles and computer world which we often take for granted An e-petition to the Government to end the long if now somewhat theoretical disgrace of Alan Turing is rapidly gathering signatures after only a few days..../snip/ http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/the-northerner/2011/dec/05/alan-turing-universityofmanchester?intcmp=239 https://submissions.epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/23526 Monday 19 December 2011 guardian.co.uk Alan Turing : My Favourite Scientist ------------------------------------ Mathematician, master codebreaker and father of computer science, Alan Turing was a genius touched by tragedy..../snip/ http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/grrlscientist/2011/dec/19/1?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487 http://youtu.be/u3Ue7r5Xsyo http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/conte</pre> Martin Postranecky 2012-01-26T11:41:16 http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.science.cryptography.bletchley-park/909 <pre>from 'MTB 102 Newsletter', Autumn 2011 : 1-4 September 2011 ADLS ( Association of Dunkirk Little Ships ) Veterans Cruise .....WW II VETS On Sunday morning our WW2 guests arrived and were allocated their boats for the day. MTB102 usually has Royal Navy Veterans on board, and this year they were joined by an ex Wren who spent some of her war at Bletchley Park. They all have interesting stories to tell..../snip/ http://www.mtb102.com/NewsletterAutumn2011(A4).pdf http://www.mtb102.com </pre> Martin Postranecky 2012-01-11T13:46:46 http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.science.cryptography.bletchley-park/908 <pre>Saturday 7 January 2012 Bletchley Park's information hub wins Grade II listing ------------------------------------------------------ Derelict block seen as birthplace of modern computer processing gains heritage protection Stephen Bates To look at, it is a distinctly undistinguished and desolate-looking piece of utilitarian 1940s architecture. There is a failed concrete roof, water seeping in, pigeons nesting and vegetation growing through the cracks in the brickwork. But in context, the long overlooked and derelict Block C at Bletchley Park, the second world war codebreaking headquarters in Buckinghamshire, may be one of the most significant buildings of the 20th century and on Friday the government gave it Grade II listed status to preserve it for posterity. It joins most other buildings on the site, including the famous wooden huts in which scientists, intelligence officers and civil servants, led by figures such as Alan Turing, initially worked to break the Nazis' supposedly impenetrabl</pre> Martin Postranecky 2012-01-08T20:13:59 http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.science.cryptography.bletchley-park/908 <pre>Saturday 7 January 2012 Bletchley Park's information hub wins Grade II listing ------------------------------------------------------ Derelict block seen as birthplace of modern computer processing gains heritage protection Stephen Bates To look at, it is a distinctly undistinguished and desolate-looking piece of utilitarian 1940s architecture. There is a failed concrete roof, water seeping in, pigeons nesting and vegetation growing through the cracks in the brickwork. But in context, the long overlooked and derelict Block C at Bletchley Park, the second world war codebreaking headquarters in Buckinghamshire, may be one of the most significant buildings of the 20th century and on Friday the government gave it Grade II listed status to preserve it for posterity. It joins most other buildings on the site, including the famous wooden huts in which scientists, intelligence officers and civil servants, led by figures such as Alan Turing, initially worked to break the Nazis' supposedly impenetrabl</pre> Martin Postranecky 2012-01-08T20:13:59 http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.science.cryptography.bletchley-park/908 <pre>Saturday 7 January 2012 Bletchley Park's information hub wins Grade II listing ------------------------------------------------------ Derelict block seen as birthplace of modern computer processing gains heritage protection Stephen Bates To look at, it is a distinctly undistinguished and desolate-looking piece of utilitarian 1940s architecture. There is a failed concrete roof, water seeping in, pigeons nesting and vegetation growing through the cracks in the brickwork. But in context, the long overlooked and derelict Block C at Bletchley Park, the second world war codebreaking headquarters in Buckinghamshire, may be one of the most significant buildings of the 20th century and on Friday the government gave it Grade II listed status to preserve it for posterity. It joins most other buildings on the site, including the famous wooden huts in which scientists, intelligence officers and civil servants, led by figures such as Alan Turing, initially worked to break the Nazis' supposedly impenetrabl</pre> Martin Postranecky 2012-01-08T20:13:59 http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.science.cryptography.bletchley-park/907 <pre>NEWS RELEASE 14 December 2011 GOOGLE DONATES £550,000 TO HELP ACCOMPLISH BLETCHLEY PARK RESTORATION VISION Bletchley Park Trust significantly closer to raising match funding needed to unlock Heritage Lottery Fund grant of £4.6 million for restoration of WW2 Codebreaking Huts Search engine Google, has announced a very generous donation of £550,000 towards the match funding needed for the Bletchley Park Trust to embark on the first stage of a £15 million project to transform the site into a world-class heritage and education centre. Google's backing draws the Bletchley Park Trust nearer to its goal of developing the site, both to educate and inspire generations to come and as a permanent testament to the brilliant people who worked there. Once the remaining funding is in place the Trust will get underway with the restoration of iconic codebreaking huts 1, 3 and 6 and create a world-class visitor centre and exhibition in the currently derelict Block C. This development will not only conserve buildings</pre> Martin Postranecky 2011-12-14T12:22:15 http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.science.cryptography.bletchley-park/906 <pre>Tuesday 22 Nov 2011 OBITUARY : Lieutenant-Commander Geoffrey Jones ---------------------------------------------- Lieutenant-Commander Geoffrey Jones, who has died aged 95, was awarded a DSM for his service with the Royal Navy in 1940 and ended his career as a headmaster in Sussex. In April 1940 Jones was a signal rating in the Lowestoft drifter Tritonia ( which had been taken up from trade for minesweeping duties and was based at Scapa Flow ) when the captured German trawler Schiff 26 was brought into harbour. Disguised as a Dutch ship, Schiff 26 was carrying arms to the German Army which had invaded Norway when she was captured by a boarding party from the British destroyer Griffin. Naval intelligence officers found important papers, among them pages from an Enigma cipher pad. These presented one of the first major hauls of the German naval code, including the key for five days ( April 22 to 27 ) and the procedures for scrambling the rotors on the encryption machines. Using clear text and c</pre> Martin Postranecky 2011-11-22T19:34:42 http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.science.cryptography.bletchley-park/905 <pre>16 November 2011 Why is Google in love with Bletchley Park ? ------------------------------------------- By Gordon Corera Security correspondent, BBC News Technology giant Google normally has its eyes fixed firmly on the future. But it has turned its attention to an old house in England to help preserve a slice of computing history. For nearly half a century after World War II, a Victorian manor house in Buckinghamshire lay neglected and unloved, its dilapidated buildings falling into disrepair. By the early 90s, plans even emerged to tear down the assorted boarded-up huts around the house and erect a supermarket in their place. For reasons of national security, a veil of secrecy shrouded Bletchley Park. Only in the last 20 years has the extraordinary story of breaking the code of the German Enigma machine finally become well-known...../snip/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15739984 </pre> Martin Postranecky 2011-11-21T11:57:38 http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.science.cryptography.bletchley-park/904 <pre>June 23, 2012, is the Centenary of Alan Turing's birth in London. During his relatively brief life, Turing made a unique impact on the history of computing, computer science, artificial intelligence, developmental biology, and the mathematical theory of computability. 2012 will be a celebration of Turing's life and scientific impact, with a number of major events taking place throughout the year. Most of these will be linked to places with special significance in Turing's life, such as Cambridge, Manchester and Bletchley Park. The Turing Year is coordinated by the Turing Centenary Advisory Committee ( TCAC ), representing a range of expertise and organisational involvement in the 2012 celebrations. Organisations and individuals wanting to contribute ideas or support for the Turing Year are invited to contact any of the current TCAC members..../snip/ http://www.turingcentenary.eu/ http://www.mathcomp.leeds.ac.uk/turing2012/ http://www.turing100.manchester.ac.uk/ http://www.i-programmer.info/n</pre> Martin Postranecky 2011-11-21T11:56:20 http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.science.cryptography.bletchley-park/903 <pre>MONDAY 21 NOVEMBER 2011 ----------------------- CRITIC'S CHOICE : Britain's Greatest Codebreaker ------------------------------------------------ Channel 4, 9.00pm London-born mathematician Alan Turing was the genius instrumental in cracking the German Naval Enigma Code, arguably shortening the Second World War by two years and saving millions of lives. He was also a visionary thinker who played a part in the birth of the digital age and pioneered artificial intelligence. Sadly, these achievements went unrecognised during his lifetime. Instead, this hero ended up a common criminal, after being convicted of gross indecency with another man in 1952, a time when homosexuality was considered a crime. He was forced to undergo chemical castration and two years later, aged just 41, he committed suicide with cyanide - driven to an early death by the society he'd done so much to save. Two years ago, Prime Minister Gordon Brown issued an official public apology for the way Turing was treated. This drama</pre> Martin Postranecky 2011-11-20T16:25:11 Search the mailing list at Gmane query http://search.gmane.org/?group=$group=gmane.science.cryptography.bletchley-park