fresh bytes
Subscribe Now

Tommy Flowers: the forgotten father of computing?

tommyflowers.jpg

Imagine spending years of your life working on a cutting-edge new invention for the government – which incidentally you have to part-pay-for out of your own pocket – only to be told to smash it to pieces and burn all evidence. This is exactly what happened to Tommy Flowers and even now, nearly 70 years later, his first computer, Colossus, is still far more well-known than he is. 

A dapper man walks down an institutional corridor, turns right into a room, flicks on the light switch and shuts the door: “This was our Battersea Bridge Laboratory,” he says, making his way into the large grey and white space.

“And [this is] where we assembled the first Colossus…”

This is Tommy Flowers, father of computing, and under-celebrated hero of World War II code-breaking. In recent years the fame of Colossus has grown exponentially – a quick Amazon search reveals numerous books on the subject. Yet far less is generally known about Flowers himself, the man behind the idea, who put both his back and his cash into the project.
via IDG Connect

Continue reading 

Image credit: BT via Flickr

Leave a Reply

featured blogs
Jul 11, 2025
Can you help me track down the source of the poem titled 'The African Tigger is Fading Away'?...

Libby's Lab

Libby's Lab - Scopes out Eaton EHBSA Aluminum Organic Polymer Capacitors

Sponsored by Mouser Electronics and Eaton

Join Libby and Demo in this episode of “Libby’s Lab” as they explore the Eaton EHBSA Aluminum Organic Polymer Capacitors, available at Mouser.com! These capacitors are ideal for high-reliability and long life in demanding applications. Keep your circuits charged and your ideas sparking!

Click here for more information

featured paper

AI-based Defect Detection System that is Both High Performance and Highly Accurate Implemented in Low-cost, Low-power FPGAs

Sponsored by Altera

Learn how MAX® 10 FPGAs enable real-time, high-accuracy AI-based defect detection at the industrial edge without a GPU. This white paper explores a production-proven solution that delivers 24× higher accuracy, 488× lower latency, and 20× lower power than traditional approaches, with a compact footprint ideal for embedded vision systems.

Click to read more

featured chalk talk

Advances in Solar Energy and Battery Technology
Sponsored by Mouser Electronics and onsemi
Passive components will play an important part in the next generation of solar and energy storage systems. In this episode of Chalk Talk, Amelia Dalton, Prasad Paruchuri from onsemi, Walter Fusto from Würth Elektronik explore trends, challenges and solutions in solar and energy storage systems. They also examine EMI considerations for energy storage systems, the benefits that battery management systems bring to these kinds of designs and how passive components can make all the difference in solar and energy storage systems.
Aug 13, 2024
54,793 views