Tommy Flowers
British engineer, helped to design Colossus during World War II (1905-1998) · United Kingdom · On the map · Scientists · Died at 92
Thomas Harold Flowers was an English engineer with the British General Post Office. During World War II, Flowers designed and built Colossus, the world's first programmable electronic computer, to help decipher encrypted German messages.
Tommy Flowers is read about 103 times a day, in 24 languages.
A typical day, 30 days to 12 November 2026
The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 114 days, one point a day.
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Photos 4
In 1994, a team led by Tony Sale (right) began a reconstruction of a Colossus at Bletchley Park. Here, in 2006, Sale supervises the breaking of an enciphered message with the completed machine.
English Heritage blue plaque on the former Post Office Research Station building in Dollis Hill![Front view of the Colossus rebuild showing, from right to left (1) The "bedstead" containing the message tape in its continuous loop and with a second one loaded. (2) The J-rack containing the Selection Panel and Plug Panel. (3) The K-rack with the large "Q" switch panel and sloping patch panel. (4) The double S-rack containing the control panel and, above the image of a postage stamp, five two-line counter displays. (5) The electric typewriter in front of the five sets of four "set total" decade switches in the C-rack.[36]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e4/Frontal_view_of_the_reconstructed_Colossus_at_The_National_Museum_of_Computing%2C_Bletchley_Park.jpg/1280px-Frontal_view_of_the_reconstructed_Colossus_at_The_National_Museum_of_Computing%2C_Bletchley_Park.jpg)
Front view of the Colossus rebuild showing, from right to left (1) The "bedstead" containing the message tape in its continuous loop and with a second one loaded. (2) The J-rack containing the Selection Panel and Plug Panel. (3) The K-rack with the large "Q" switch panel and sloping patch panel. (4) The double S-rack containing the control panel and, above the image of a postage stamp, five two-line counter displays. (5) The electric typewriter in front of the five sets of four "set total" decade switches in the C-rack.[36]Awards
About this person
Country
United Kingdom
Category
Scientists
Type
Scientist
Status
Deceased
Dates
Lived 1905 to 1998 · aged 92
