Hi Joris:
I told the story of the uncovering of Colossus in a lecture I gave at The National Museum of Computing about ten years ago – see:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yl6pK1Z7B5Q
Cheers
Brian
—
School of Computing, Newcastle University, 1 Science Square, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE4 5TG
EMAIL = Brian.Randell@ncl.ac.uk PHONE = +44 191 208 7923
URL = https://www.ncl.ac.uk/computing/staff/profile/brianrandell.html
On 18/01/2024, 16:54, "Joris van Zundert" <joris.van.zundert@huygens.knaw.nl> wrote:
Hi Brian,
Brilliant! Thanks for this firsthand account.
(Still a mystery why the British broadcast confusion then.)
All the best
--Joris
--
Dr. Joris J. van Zundert
Researcher & Developer in Humanities Computing
Dept. of Computational Literary Studies / DHLab
Huygens Institute for the History of the Netherlands
Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
joris.van.zundert@huygens.knaw.nl <color:rgb(0,120,212)>
@jorisvanzundert
+31624461051
https://www.huygens.knaw.nl/en/medewerkers/joris-van-zundert-2/ <https://www.huygens.knaw.nl/en/medewerkers/joris-van-zundert-2/>
visiting address
Oudezijds Achterburgwal 185
1012 DK Amsterdam
The Netherlands
postal address
P.O. Box 10855
1001 EW Amsterdam
The Netherlands
--
Jack Sparrow: I thought you were supposed to keep to the code.
Mr. Gibbs: We figured they were more actual guidelines.
________________________________________
From: Brian Randell <brian.randell@newcastle.ac.uk>
Sent: Thursday, January 18, 2024 5:19:55 PM
To: Joris van Zundert <joris.van.zundert@huygens.knaw.nl>
Cc: Sigcis <members@sigcis.org>
Subject: Re: Colossus at 80
Hi Joris:
I was shown the photographs, and given permission to interview the developers, in mid-1975. A set of photographs, and a single-page description, were released to the Public Record Office in 1975. My (cleared)
paper revealing the Colossus was given at the splendid Los Alamos conference in June 1976 – see
https://computerhistory.org/blog/computings-woodstock/ <https://computerhistory.org/blog/computings-woodstock/>. (I
had previously, in 1972, published such few facts as I could discover about the project in my 1972 paper “On Alan Turing and the Origins of Computers” -
http://homepages.cs.ncl.ac.uk/brian.randell/Papers-Books/126.pdf <http://homepages.cs.ncl.ac.uk/brian.randell/Papers-Books/126.pdf>.)
Cheers
Brian Randell
—
School of Computing, Newcastle University, 1 Science Square, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE4 5TG
EMAIL =
Brian.Randell@ncl.ac.uk PHONE = +44 191 208 7923
On 18/01/2024, 13:42, "Joris van Zundert" <joris.van.zundert@huygens.knaw.nl> wrote:
Hi,
Any ideas on this puzzling sentence in the press release? “The Colossus computer was created during the Second World War […] but its existence was only revealed in the early 2000s after six decades of secrecy.”
As far as I know the existence of Colossus has in no way been a mystery at least since the early 1970s, right?
Best
--Joris
From: Members <members-bounces@lists.sigcis.org <mailto:members-bounces@lists.sigcis.org>> on behalf
of Brian Randell via Members <members@lists.sigcis.org <mailto:members@lists.sigcis.org>>
Date: Thursday, January 18, 2024 at 12:50
To: Sigcis <members@sigcis.org <mailto:members@sigcis.org>>
Subject: [SIGCIS-Members] Colossus at 80
Hi:
Here is the official GCHQ press release:
https://www.gchq.gov.uk/news/colossus-80 <https://www.gchq.gov.uk/news/colossus-80> <https://www.gchq.gov.uk/news/colossus-80>
<https://www.gchq.gov.uk/news/colossus-80%3e>
Cheers
Brian Randell
—
School of Computing, Newcastle University, 1 Science Square, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE4 5TG
EMAIL =
Brian.Randell@ncl.ac.uk <mailto:Brian.Randell@ncl.ac.uk> PHONE = +44 191 208 7923
URL =
https://www.ncl.ac.uk/computing/staff/profile/brianrandell.html <https://www.ncl.ac.uk/computing/staff/profile/brianrandell.html>