Tommy Flowers

[Marcus2867]

What an inspiration that man is. Never mind Steve Jobs and the constant tributes paid to him. This is the guy who changed lives.

[sythead]

tommy flowers, thank you. rest in peace.

[michellesint]

I also watched this BBC Program, truly remarkable. I take my hat off to you for your incredible machine. It is difficult to put into words how amazed I am at how many lives you saved by creating this machine. I do not know why your name is not in my computing textbook.

[sparkybaz77]

Just watched the BBC program about Bletchley Park. Thankyou, a brilliant brilliant man. A new hero of mine. Against all the odds you made it possible. I hope others realise the importance of your work.

[sednamoon]

Tommy had so much faith in the Colossus valve design would work reliably, he even put more than £1000 of his own money ( a lot of money in the early 1940s) to get construction started as soon as possible.

After the war ended, Tommy was awarded £1000 from the government which did not cover all his total personal financing into this project.

[laurencerj1972]

tommy flowers was indeed the man that made it all happen but it was alan turing,s idea and invention

[LFraserS]

@laurencerj1972. Just to put the record straight: Alan Turing had nothing to do with the design of Colossus, that was Tommy Flowers work, done at the request of Max Newman who was one of the leading mathematicians at BP, and head of the Newmanry. It was the management at BP who, initially, turned down Tommy's design but when one was built and working, management had it installed at BP in December 1943 and ordered another 10; see my video: Bletchley Park Tour Part 8.

[laurencerj1972]

tommy was indeed a genius, he built the first computer but the designer was alan turing who committed suicide after being convicted of homosexuality, tommy made it all happen and it is indeed critical to cracking the codes durind ww2, a hero indeed.

[DebenDave]

@laurencerj1972 It was Tommy Flower who did the design not Alan Turing...in fact BP and Turing turned down the design and TF went ahead and built it anyway and it was only when it was ready that BP said they wanted one a month.

[ian29d]

Incredible, this is the guy that made the first programmable computer. I'd like to see more of this video...

[Hanglands]

I cant belive this video has been here almost a year and has only got 2 ratings and 2 comments. This mans genius was second to none, and without Flowers, Bletch wouldve been a lot worse off and the war lasted until 1946.

[jtomlin1uk]

A real hero and yet still so unknown to many

[x246869]

The real Dr. Charles Forbin.