EnigmaMachine
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Rare Enigma machine sells for $233,000
An unnamed buyer has purchased an ultra-rare three-rotor German Enigma machine for the better part of $233,000. It was sold by an equally-secretive "European museum foundation" by the auctioneers Sotheby's in London for almost twice the expected price. During the Second World War, German troops were instructed to destroy their Enigma machines to prevent them falling into enemy hands, with only a handful surviving. While tainted as a piece of Nazi memorabilia, the item is also a valuable artifact in the history of modern computing. The Allied effort to break the code and Alan Turing's involvement would pave the way for the devices we use today and interest has been renewed since the release of The Imitation Game.
Google donates $850,000 to restore home of the codebreakers
Google has donated £550,000 ($850,000) towards the £15 million project to renovate Bletchley Park. The donation from Mountain View is part of a $100 million charitable program that's previously helped rescue Alan Turing's personal papers. The country estate is the former home of Station X and the British Government's Code and Cypher School, which was where the World War Two model of the Enigma Machine was decrypted. Turing, its most famous alumnus went on to pioneer computer science and artificial intelligence during his short life and the complex now houses the National Museum of Computing. Unfortunately the buildings are rapidly collapsing and enormous investment is still required to transform the site into a museum, attraction and fitting tribute to the work of the codebreakers.
