Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Colossus the computer that helped the allies decode German messenges?
You're quite right Richie. Colossus was developed to decode the complex Lorenz ciphers, which were used by the German high command to send their most highly-classified and important communications. There were actually 10 examples built & each one would fill a reasonably sized room. If I remember correctly these were all linked together to make one huge computer. I've recently visited Bletchley Park & seen the rebuilt Colossus although it wasn't working at that time. Unfortunately every piece of equipment & data at Bletchley was destroyed at the end of WWII so this has been done mainly from memory by some of the people who worked there at the time.
http://www.bletchleypark.org.uk/Although Colossus was the first of its kind it remained Top Secret for many years after WWII & security at Bletchley was so efficient that very few people knew of its existence. This is remarkable considering that about 10,000 people from all walks of life worked there during the height of its activities, many of these being young girls who never told their parents or husbands what they did there & many took their secrets to the grave. This was a very different era & people didn't rush to reveal all in their memoirs as is so common these days. I don't think too many of the later generations realise or appreciate that.
Another electronic computer named ENIAC was developed separately in the US soon after the end of WWII.
http://ftp.arl.mil/~mike/comphist/eniac-story.htmlDue to Colossus being classified until the 1980s this was believed to be the first one for many years & it's quite likely that ENIAC is the father of the modern computer we know today.
