The World’s First Computer Operators

The last remaining women code-breakers who operated Colossus – the world’s first electronic computer – have been reunited after 70 years. The women were all part of the Colossus C Watch at Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire during the Second World War and were the world’s first computer operators. Most of them lost touch with each other after the war ended. Their reunion comes after a picture was discovered in a drawer by veteran Joanna Chorley, 88.

It was on 5 February 1944 that Colossus Mk I attacked its first Lorenz-encrypted message, the highly sophisticated cipher used in communications between Hitler and his generals during World War II. Colossus was designed by British telephone engineer Tommy Flowers to speed up code-breaking of the complex Lorenz cipher. By the end of the war there were ten functioning Colossi and they had a decisive impact in shortening the war and saving countless lives.

Colossus was the first electronic computer, but news of its existence was kept top secret for 30 years. The computer was enormous, measuring over 2m high by 5m wide and 3.3m deep, weighing a tonne and using 8kW of power, with 7 km of wiring inside.

Reading 5000 characters per second – faster than anything ever produced commercially ever since – it found the start wheel positions of Lorenz messages and it is often surmised that the Allies might have been reading some of the decrypted messages before they reached German High Command.

In honour of the men and women who worked at Bletchley Park during the war, Tony Sale, co-founder of The National Museum of Computing, led a team to rebuild Colossus in 1994. On 15 November 2007, a rebuilt fully-functioning Colossus Mark II was unveiled to the public at The National Museum of Computing.

The upcoming historical drama The Imitation Game, featuring Benedict Cumberbatch as brilliant cryptographer Alan Turing, working at Bletchley, will be in the cinemas this autumn.

source: Rex

code-breaker – kódfejtő
to be reunited – újra találkoznak
to lose touch with  – elveszíteni a kapcsolatot
encrypted message – titkosított üzenet
sophisticated – bonyolult
cipher – titkosírás, rejtjel
to speed up – felgyorsítani
impact – hatás
countless – számtalan
enormous – hatalmas
wiring – vezetékek
commercially produced – kereskedelmi célra gyártott
to surmise – feltételezni
the Allies – a Szövetségesek
decrypted message – megfejtett üzenet
High Command – főparancsnokság
in honour of – valakinek a tiszteletére
fully-functioning – teljesen működőképes
to unveil – felfedni, leleplezni

Match the synonyms.

answers: 1-d 2-a 3-e 4-c 5-b

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Choose the right phrasal verb!

1) She was sad all day but she ………. a little bit when I made her some cookies.
a) brightened up
b) lightened up
c) jazzed up

2) The clown was so frightening that my younger son ………. crying.
a) broke out
b)  burst out
c) broke into

3) I know he was very angry but he ………. when he hit the other man.
a) got taken away
b) got blown away
c) got carried away

4) She needed at least two years to ………. after her divorce.
a) put herself together
b) bring herself together
c) pull herself together

5) We were hoping to ………. for the weekend and go somewhere very far from the city.
a) get away
b) run away
c) drive away

6) We’ll take you to the airport because we want to ……….. .
a) see you off
b) see you through
c) see you away

7) I don’t know what her problem was but she ………. without saying goodbye.
a) ran off
b) called off
c) drove off

8) I left my wallet at home, so I had to ………. at the metro station.
a) get back
b) turn back
c) be back

9) I’m sorry I couldn’t send you that email but the system ………… all day.
a) was down
b) fell down
c)  burst down

10) The car ………. yesterday so I’m going by bus today.
a) broke down
b) blew out
c)  went out

11) He was arrested after he tried to ……….. the school network.
a)  go into
b) steal into
c) break into

12) I am sure your webpage will be more popular when you ………. a little bit.
a) spark it up
b) do it up
c) jazz it up

Answers: 1) a, 2) b, 3) c, 4) c, 5) a, 6) a, 7) c, 8) b, 9) a, 10) a, 11) c, 12) c