07/09/15

07/09/15

On Monday 7th September,  I watched a BBC2 documentary on Bletchley Park.  Whilst there were a few mentions of cryptography, the main focus was Gordan Welchman and his contribution to WWII traffic analysis and the development of the internet and, consequently, his later downfall when, like Alan Turing, Welchman was deemed a security risk and was discredited by the government.  Interesting to watch, but not entirely relevant to my EPQ.

26/08/15

26/08/15

From the 18th to the 24th August, I went to the UNIQ summer school at the University of Oxford with my subject being Maths: Numbers, Proofs and Codes.  The coding section of the lectures was very interesting an has given me a more modern understanding of the encryptions used in credit cards and the importance of extremely large prime numbers.  The lectures were given by Richard Earl, a professor in the Mathematical Institute in the university and as such the information is verified and relatively recent.
On the 26th August, I visited Bletchley Park and explored the museums, experienced a demonstration of the reconstructed Bombe machine as well as saw the exhibits of the film The Imitation Game which was based and filmed in Bletchley Park as it is about the decryption of the Enigma code during WWII.  The site is very authentic despite the renovations that are planned and as such the information that I gathered is valid.  I now have a more solidified understanding of cryptography during WWII and I feel that this is something I can include in my essay.  The film The Imitation Game is not entirely accurate and has been romanticized quite a lot, but the basics of the code breaking are still there, despite the Wrens' involvement being downplayed slightly.