Book launch: The Bombe - The machine that defeated Enigma
/
The Bombe - Dermot Turing
The National Museum of Computing has today announced the launch of new book ‘The Bombe: The Machine that Defeated Enigma’. Authored by Dermot Turing, the book is the essential guide to the technology that changed the course of the war and is exclusively available to buy from TNMOC website.
During the Second World War, the German Armed Forces sent thousands of messages encrypted by the Enigma machine every day, conveying crucial strategic information. To crack this seemingly unbreakable cipher, the Allies turned to an electro-mechanical machine to do the job - the Bombe.
The Turing-Welchman Bombe was a marvel of engineering and ingenuity. The first bombe was put into operation in August 1940, and by the end of the war more than 200 of these machines had been built. By uncovering the daily 'key', they allowed as many as 5,000 messages to be deciphered each day.
This remarkable guide explains how the Bombe works in easy-to-understand language and walks you through the entire codebreaking process. With helpful diagrams and photographs throughout, The Bombe is the essential guide to the machine that changed the course of the war.
The books are available to purchase at the museum shop and exclusively online from the TNMOC website.
https://www.tnmoc.org/tnmocshop
About the author
Dermot Turing graduated from King's College Cambridge and New College Oxford. He spent his career in the legal profession, most recently as a partner of Clifford Chance. Since 2014 he has moved into a more varied range of activities, including a stint as a trustee of Bletchley Park.
Dermot Turing is the nephew of Alan Turing and author of Alan Turing Decoded: The Man They Called Prof (2015), X,Y and Z: The Real Story of How Enigma Was Broken (2018), The Codebreakers of Bletchley Park (2020) and Reflections of Alan Turing: A Relative Story (2021).
Author praise
'Turing writes on codebreaking with understandable authority and compelling panache.’ – Michael Smith, bestselling author of Station X.
‘Turing unearths a remarkable tale of intellect, bravery and camaraderie that reads like a nail-biting spy novel.’ – Nature on X, Y and Z
‘His prose crackles with energy and an appealing sense of humour.’ – Jonathan Beard, Michigan War Studies Review
About The National Museum of Computing
Located on Bletchley Park as an independent museum, The National Museum of Computing brings to life the history and ongoing development of computing for the enjoyment and benefit of the general public and specialists.
The museum combines a distinctive approach to engagement with an emphasis on British computing heritage and ongoing innovation. TNMOC acquires, conserves, restores and rebuilds historic computing machinery. Our approach is furthered through a process of engagement, with the display and demonstration of historical systems. The museum runs a highly successful learning programme for schools and colleges and introduces computer coding to young people to help inspire the next generation of computer scientists and engineers. The museum also runs a popular, ongoing program of festivals, lectures and interpreted displays and interactive events.
