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March 2023 – Didcot Cafe Scientifique online – Leigh Edwards, Bletchley Park and the UK World War II Codebreakers
21st March 2023 @ 7:30 pm - 9:00 pm
Didcot Cafe Scientifique – online | Tuesday 21st March 7pm for a 7.30pm start
Bletchley Park and the UK World War II Codebreakers
If you have heard of Bletchley Park and the incredible work done there during World War II, then you will probably be familiar with the work to break the Enigma codes. But the story is much more involved than that feat of amazing intellectual effort. Using a combination of military intelligence, some truly gifted people, advanced mathematics, various machines such as ‘The Bombe’, plus the worlds’ first electronic computer, called Colossus, to break the Enigma, Lorenz and other cipher encoded messages. The work was highly secret but was based on collaborative work with the allied forces and some initial work by a handful of brilliant Polish Mathematicians. The work done, by these largely unsung heroes, shortened World War II by at least two years, saving many tens of thousands of lives. This is their story.
Leigh Edwards
I have an Honours Degree in Chemistry awarded, many years ago, by the Royal Institute of Chemistry. I have spent over twenty‑four years as an Analytical Chemist, Laboratory Computer Scientist, and middle manager, in Pharmaceuticals. I then founded and ran my own Software Company for twelve years or so; during that time, I wrote a couple of textbooks on computer programming. Throughout my early life, career, and ever since, I’ve maintained an avid interest in a wide range of sciences, including physics, genetics, food and health, computers, cosmology, and many other subjects.