Bletchley Park to house national computing museum

 

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By Simon Aughton

Posted on 12 Jul 2007 at 12:02

Bletchley Park is to be the home of a new National Museum of Computing. The museum will be situated in the famous estate's Block H, built in 1944 to house the world's first digital computers, the Colossus machines.

The museum will allow visitors to follow the development of computing from the top secret pioneering efforts of the Colossus, through the mainframes of the 1960s and 1970s and the rise of personal computing in the 1980s. Visitors will be able to operate original systems restored to working order with the help of the British Computer Society's conservation experts.

The museum is being set up by the Codes And Ciphers Heritage Trust (CCHT) and Sir Christopher Chataway, chairman of Bletchley Park Trust, says he is excited at the prospect of working with them. "We are keen to ensure that Bletchley Park vividly explains both the astonishing wartime contribution of the code breakers and the unique role it has played in the history of information technology," he states.

Professor Nigel Shadbolt, British Computer Society president, stressed the significance of Colossus, which one man, Tony Sale, has spent 14 years restoring. "Colossus is a genuine milestone in computing history - not just in terms of the crucially important role it played in winning the Second World War, but also in terms of the way it paved the way for the future of computing," he explains.

Alongside Colossus, the museum will have areas dedicated to gaming, supercomputing, UK computer systems, air traffic control and Heath Robinson among other exhibits.

CCHT co-founder Andy Clark stressed that the key to the museum will be that visitors will have hands-on access to the machines. "Where else would you be able to surf the net on a machine from 1976?" he said.

He said that the trust has 800m² of machines in storage and is seeking £250,000 to safeguard them and put as many on display as possible.

For more information visit the Codes And Ciphers Heritage Trust website.