Bletchley Park Visit
On the 29 April 2018, 11 IB students and 4 teachers visited Bletchley Park, the place which was once the central site for British codebreakers during World War Two. The location, famous for where Alan Turing broke the enigma code is perfect our history students as they had a special interest in this part of WW2 and could investigate history from other perspectives. Other students focused on the computing side of the visit learning about the history of computer science by interacting with old examples of computers adds to their subject knowledge. The students were extremely fortunate to have met a lady who worked in Bletchley Park during World War Two gaining a first-hand account describing how she operated the Bombe!
This park is famous for its secrecy and decoding activities during WWII as well as the talented people who worked there. They not only managed to break the ‘unbreakable’ Enigma code but also created the first electronic computer, which laid the foundation for our modern life technologies.
We wandered around the park, trying to see everything and overwhelmed with a whole lot of information about people, machines and secrets during the war. I had the chance to take a look inside the ‘Bombe’ which made it possible to read enemies’ codes and I was also amazed by how many people worked collaboratively, side by side, in order to solve one of the hardest puzzles of their time. It is impossible to describe the feeling you get while walking around those Huts where mathematicians were gathering information which informed decisions that would change the course of the whole war! For example, whether Hitler believed that the attack on France would be at Calais rather than Normandy. Realistic installations combined with easy electronic guides made this visit not only informational but entertaining as well.
To sum it up, we enjoyed the visit to Bletchley Park so much that we would like to go back there again.
Daria, IB19- History
Bletchley Park is an amazing example of how math, engineering and computing can come together to solve challenging problems. We had in fact the opportunity to explore “The Bombe” an electro-mechanical machine used by British cryptologists to crack the German encrypted messages. From a computing point of view the Bombe was the first machine to perform recursive operations laying the foundations for modern Computer Science.
Visiting the National Museum of Computing has also been an amazing experience. We had the chance to see “Colossus”, the world’s first electronic computer used to decipher the Lorenz-encrypted messages between Hitler and his generals during World War II. We have then realised how huge the Mainframes from the 50s, 60s and 70s were. Preslav, Marin and I also tried to write our names on a punched card system in the exact same way the first programmers used to type their codes. Looking back at the improvements our computers had in the past 30 years it’s astonishing and seems almost impossible we have come such a long way.
Diego, IB19- Maths
Bletchley Park ni kituo cha mafunzo ya Kiingereza ambacho wanafunzi 11 wa IB na walimu wanne walitembelea katika mwaka wa 2018 na kuwapa nafasi ya kuwa na mafunzo ya Kiingereza katika eneo la Bletchley Park, eneo ambalo wakati mmoja lilikuwa kituo kikuu cha kuvunja kanuni za Uingereza wakati wa Vita Kuu ya Pili ya Dunia. Alan Turing alivunja kificho cha Enigma, na wanafunzi wa historia walipendezwa na sehemu hii ya Vita Kuu ya Pili ya Dunia. Wanafunzi wengine walilenga upande wa kompyuta wa ziara, kujifunza kuhusu historia ya sayansi ya kompyuta kwa kuingiliana na mifano ya zamani ya kompyuta huongeza maarifa yao ya somo. Wanafunzi walikuwa na bahati kubwa sana kukutana na mwanamke ambaye alifanya kazi katika Bletchley Park wakati wa Vita Kuu ya Pili kupata akaunti ya kwanza kuelezea jinsi yeye kuendeshwa Bombe! Hifadhi hii ni maarufu kwa shughuli zake za siri na decoding wakati wa Vita Kuu ya Pili ya Dunia, pamoja na watu wenye vipaji ambao walifanya kazi huko. Haikuwa tu kwamba walifaulu kuvunja kificho cha Enigma kisichoweza kuvunjwa bali pia waliunda kompyuta ya kwanza ya elektroniki, ambayo iliweka msingi wa teknolojia zetu za kisasa za maisha. Tulitembea kuzunguka bustani, tukijaribu kuona kila kitu na kuzamishwa na habari nyingi kuhusu watu, mashine na siri wakati wa vita. """Nilikuwa na nafasi ya kuangalia ndani ya bomba ambalo lilifanya iwezekane kusoma nambari za maadui na pia nilishangazwa na jinsi watu wengi walivyofanya kazi kwa kushirikiana, kando kwa kando, ili kutatua moja ya fumbo ngumu zaidi ya wakati wao." Ni vigumu kuelezea hisia unayopata unapotembea kuzunguka vibanda hivyo ambapo wanahisabati walikuwa wakikusanya habari ambazo zilielekeza maamuzi ambayo yangebadili mwendo wa vita vyote! Kwa mfano, ikiwa Hitler aliamini kwamba shambulio dhidi ya Ufaransa lingekuwa huko Calais badala ya Normandy. Vifaa halisi vilivyounganishwa na miongozo rahisi ya kielektroniki vilifanya ziara hii isiwe ya habari tu bali pia ya kufurahisha. Kwa ufupi, tulifurahia sana ziara ya Bletchley Park hivi kwamba tungependa kurudi huko tena. Bletchley Park ni mfano wa ajabu wa jinsi hisabati, uhandisi na kompyuta zinaweza kuja pamoja ili kutatua matatizo magumu. Kwa kweli tulikuwa na fursa ya kuchunguza <unk>The Bombe<unk> mashine ya umeme-mechanical kutumika na cryptologists Uingereza kuvunja ujumbe wa Ujerumani encrypted. Kutoka kwa mtazamo wa kompyuta Bombe ilikuwa mashine ya kwanza kufanya shughuli recursive kuweka misingi ya kisasa Sayansi ya Kompyuta. Kutembelea Jumba la Makumbusho la Kitaifa la Kompyuta pia kumekuwa uzoefu wa ajabu. "Kulingana na ripoti ya gazeti la The Guardian, ""Colossus"" ni kompyuta ya kwanza ya elektroniki iliyotumiwa kufunua ujumbe wa Lorentz uliokuwa ukisafishwa kati ya Hitler na majenerali wake wakati wa Vita Kuu ya Pili ya Dunia." Kwa hivyo, ni muhimu kujua kwamba mainframe za miaka ya 50, 60, na 70 zilikuwa na nguvu nyingi. "Mimi, Preslav, na Marin tulijaribu kuandika majina yetu kwenye mfumo wa kadi za punch kwa njia ileile ambayo waandaaji wa kwanza walitumia kuandika nambari zao. """ Kwa kuangalia nyuma katika maboresho ya kompyuta zetu katika miaka 30 iliyopita ni ya kushangaza na inaonekana karibu haiwezekani tumekuja njia ndefu kama hiyo. Diego, IB19 - Hisabati