The 20th century saw two 'world' wars and many firsts. Prior to World War II, a furious search for what became usable radar was carried out in 8 nations. The need for secrecy was paramount for this, and for all other prewar and war-time projects. For this purpose, Germany adopted the use of an Enigma machine, which had been designed by a Dutchman, Hugo Koch, in 1919. They adapted this machine, and considered it unbreakable. They were wrong. Beginning in Poland in the 30's, then Britain and finally the US, men and women laboured tirelessly to break the code. In the progress of this work, another first, something far more important to the 20th century, and the 21st century, was created. What was it?
I am a war and history nut, as you all are discovering, and I didn't know this fact till I started my research this week. Maybe more formally trained minds knew this already, but I was blown away with this fact. So, clues may be difficult without giving it all away - maybe TM knows already?? Mmmmm...off to skin tomatoes!!!

Nancy.

Annette

TM

Cynthia

Does the term bombe, or bomba mean anything to anyone??

I do have another name, but it may be a gimmee to TM, so will hold my cards close to my chest a little longer!! Yes, there is a clue in there.

Nancy.

Me thinks I'm skunked on this one :(.

Annette

Nancy.

Nancy.

Annette

Cynthia

Alan Turing, indeed - he was the name I was going to drop. I may need hint for the scones clue!! lol.

Nancy.

Nancy.

Another hint for the game...it is as plain on the nose on your face, right before your eyes. :-)

Too vague?

You're looking for a thing that was created, not a person, right?

Lorna's scones, I just had to share LOL.

Annette

Well, here it is - the ancestor of Big Blue. It really only had one function, to my knowledge, and that was to decipher Enigma messages. btw, bomba refers to the Polish machine, bombe refers to the English machine. It was developed in Poland initially, in the 30's by Polish mathematician-cryptologist Marian Rejewski. According to a top-secret U.S. Army report dated 15 June 1945, a machine called the "bombe" is used to expedite the solution. The first machine was built by the Poles and was a hand operated multiple enigma machine. When a possible solution was reached a part would fall off the machine onto the floor with a loud noise. Hence the name "bomba". Or that it made a crackling noise, like a dessert called a bombe glace. Either way, up to July 25, 1939, the Poles had been breaking Enigma messages for over six and a half years without telling their French and British allies. On December 15, 1938, two new rotors, IV and V, were introduced (three of the now five rotors being selected for use in the machine at a time). As Rejewski wrote in a 1979 critique of appendix 1, volume 1 (1979), of the official history of British Intelligence in the Second World War, "we quickly found the [wirings] within the [new rotors], but [their] introduction [...] raised the number of possible sequences of drums from 6 to 60 [...] and hence also raised tenfold the work of finding the keys. Thus the change was not qualitative but quantitative. We would have had to markedly increase the personnel to operate the bombs, to produce the perforated sheets. The initial design of the bombe was produced in 1939 at the UK Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park by Alan Turing, with an important refinement devised in 1940 by Gordon Welchman.

The bombe was an electro-mechanical device that replicated the action of several Enigma machines wired together. A standard German Enigma employed, at any one time, a set of three rotors each of which could be set in any of 26 positions. The standard British bombe contained thirty six Enigma-equivalents, each with three drums wired to produce the same scrambling effect as the Enigma rotors. A bombe could run two or three jobs simultaneously. Each job would have a menu that had to be run against a number of different wheel orders. If the menu contained 12 or fewer letters, three different wheel orders could be run on one bombe; if more than 12 letters, only two.

Colonel John Tiltman, who later became Deputy Director at Bletchley Park, visited the US Navy cryptanalysis office (OP-20-G) in April 1942 and recognised America's vital interest in deciphering U-boat traffic. The urgent need, doubts about the British engineering workload and slow progress, prompted the US to start investigating designs for a Navy bombe, based on the full blueprints and wiring diagrams received by US Naval Lieutenants Robert Ely and Joseph Eachus at Bletchley Park in July 1942. Funding for a full, $2 million, navy development effort was requested on 3 September 1942 and approved the following day. A contract was let with the National Cash Register Corporation (NCR) in Dayton, Ohio. This established the United States Naval Computing Machine Laboratory. Engineering development was led by NCR's Joseph Desch.

Whew, sorry, that's as short as I can make it!!
So, for Lorna, Thin Man, Annette, and Cyn:

Now, as to the actress, Hedy Lamarr, she was indeed a smart cookie. I will spare you here, but suggest you check out her biography. She was very much ahead of her time!!

Thanks for playing. Nancy.

Nancy.

TM

TM - seriously, did you already know, or did the initial post tell the tale? I am curious.

Thanks, Nancy.

TM

Nancy.