Bombe (Enigma codebreaking machine)
Bombe (criptoanálisis electromecánico de Enigma)
- Date
- 1938–1940 · confidence high
- Place
- Bletchley Park, Buckinghamshire, England
- Credited to
- Alan Turing and Gordon Welchman (design, 1939-1940; built by British Tabulating Machine, Letchworth); Marian Rejewski's bomba kryptologiczna (Warsaw, 1938)
- People
- 👤 Alan Turing1912–1954👤 Gordon Welchman1906–1985
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
What it is
Electromechanical machine that tested Enigma settings at high speed from probable text. It allowed German traffic to be read (Ultra) and shortened the war.
The Polish 1938 design was transferred to the British and French in July 1939.
What it led to
- Industrialised signals intelligence
- Allied advantage in the Battle of the Atlantic and Normandy
- Cryptography as a mathematical science and agencies (GCHQ, NSA)
Built on
- Tabulating machine1890–1906
- Rejewski's break into the Enigma cipher1932
- Cryptologic bomb (bomba kryptologiczna)1938
- Colossus computer1943–1944
- Rejewski's bomba
- Enigma machine
- Electromagnetic relay
Made possible
- Colossus computer1943–1944
- Public-key cryptography (Diffie-Hellman)1976
- US Navy bombe (Desch)
- Modern cryptography