Fieldtrip to Bletchley Park

This post covers my impressions about the class field trip to Bletchley Park. Bletchley was probably the most memorable place that I've visited so far on this trip. Before even arriving at the park, I was fascinated with the fact that the British government had been able to keep it a secret for so long. In an age where information leaks like a sieve from almost every conceivable source, it is remarkable to contemplate that the people who worked at Bletchley didn't reveal what they had been doing for 30 years after the war was over. After arriving at the Park, I was able to better understand how much of this secrecy may have been achieved from the information that even the workers themselves were kept from knowing more than the absolute minimum about what they were doing. The fact that the entire operation remained a secret for so long is still amazing though.

I found the Park itself to be remarkable, and imagined that it would have been a fascinating place to work. The grounds were beautiful, and there was an interesting contrast between the gardens and the drab war-era buildings they surrounded. As our guide for the tour told stories about the installation, it was interesting to imagine being a part of an operation whose actions were so vital to the war, but that was kept absolutely secret.

As far as the actual exhibits themselves, it was thrilling to see an actual rebuilt version of the Colossus that worked. It's still amazing that such a machine could function, and function well, despite its use of paper tape and valves. The speed at which it functioned was also remarkable, carrying out its tasks at roughly the same speed as a modern computer. I was also very interested in the rest of the computing museum, particularly the exhibit on personal computers. The fact that so many of them were actually in working order, and that we were encouraged to use them, was a thrill.