As with many technologies, World War II greatly influenced the development of
computers? In what ways did the war effort contribute to the evolution of computer
technology? In what ways did the need for secrecy during the war hinder computer
development?
Tags: Computer, Contribute, Effort, Evolution, Ways, What, World
Research IBM and the Holocaust and the Enigma Machine
(No, I’m not writing your essay)
Alan Turing, who was working on the Enigma project, imagined a machine that was fed data on two strings, and that produced a predictable output depending on the input. This idea was the very genesis of the binary system.
Turing was later persecuted by his own country for being homosexual, and ultimately forced to commit suicide, even though he probably did more than any other single individual to win the war.
Military scientists developed simple mechanical computers for difficult targeting (eg, battleships at sea or fast aircraft trying to hit one another), to control radar and so on. These, and radar itself, taught us much about how to actually MAKE the computers, and the miniaturisation of components.
Secrecy did not hinder the US and Britain too much because they agreed to share all technology just after Pearl Harbour. In fact, modern anti-competition laws such as patents and copyright are far more restrictive.
The Allies developed the Colossus and Enigma to crack codes sent by Nazis. These two machines were the prototypes of computers today and they were advanced, complex calculators.
Because this technology is top secret, nobody knew of their existence until much later in the 1950s. During that time, the first computers were developed by the US defense and military and were not available to the general public or private sector companies. It was until the 1970s did they become commercialised by IBM and Apple.
Mainly in the effort to crack German military codes.
The first practical electronic computer was Colossus invented at Bletchley Park , England to do in six hours what it would take humans six weeks thus making the information more useful.