The Electronic Revolution: Part 2

Question 1

Purpose of the Enigma

Answer 1

Designed to convert ordinary language into encoded form to be sent via radio or telephone lines

Question 2

Parts of the Enigma

Answer 2

3 rotors, Lamp board, Keyboard(input), Plug board

Question 3

Enigma combinations

Answer 3

Simply possessing one was useless since there were 100 billion possible combinations

Question 4

Martin Rejewski

Answer 4

A mathematician assigned to the encryption problem, him and others deciphered ~75% of German messages

Question 5

Alan Turing

Answer 5

Produced a famous paper on the decision problem;
Worked as a code breaker at Bletchley Park

Question 6

Motivation for the Heath Robinson machine

Answer 6

Bombs were too slow at decrypting. M.H.A. Newman envisioned a machine that could automate part of the decryption process

Question 7

Significance of the Robinsons

Answer 7

Unreliable, but served as a proof of concept

Question 8

The Colossus advantages

Answer 8

Vacuum tubes over relays, all electronic design; Improved reliability and speed

Question 9

The Colossus advantages

Answer 9

Bi-Quinary storage of information in registers;
Internal clock used to synchronize operations;
Controlled by plug board and wires;
Card readers (Robinsons) were used as input

Question 10

The Colossus significance

Answer 10

A forerunner to the modern computer in some ways