The Engineer They Erased: Tommy Flowers and the Pioneering of Electronic Codebreaking

A forgotten engineer built the room that thought. 🗂️ In 1944, Tommy Flowers wired thousands of valves into “Colossus,” the first large-scale electronic codebreaker—quietly turning German high command’s secrets into Allied decisions. This documentary traces the skepticism, the breakthrough, and the decades of silence that followed. 🔧📜 What you’ll see: • How Lorenz (“Tunny”) worked—and why hand methods failed. • Why “valves can’t be trusted” was a myth—and how Flowers proved it. • From Heath Robinson to Colossus: the invisible turn that changed D-Day planning. • Why Britain dismantled the machines and buried the credit. If you value unsung engineers and hard science behind history, subscribe. 🎯 Timestamps 00:00 Hook — frost, tape, and the switch 01:12 The problem: Lorenz (“Tunny”) at scale 03:06 Heath Robinson: theory vs. torn paper 04:42 Enter Tommy Flowers (Dollis Hill) 06:10 “Thousands of valves?” — the bet on reliability 08:02 Colossus I: build, heat, and first failures 10:15 The invisible turn: electronic phase-shift wins 12:18 From peaks to plaintext: operations impact 14:05 Myth-busting: Enigma vs. Lorenz, who did what 15:36 Why they destroyed Colossus 17:02 Flowers’s legacy and the lesson of discipline 18:20 Credits & sources #warhistory #militaryhistory #historydocumentary #worldwar2 #ww2 #coldwar #codebreaking #cryptography #lorenz #enigma #bletchleypark #colossus #tommyflowers #engineering #militaryengineering #computinghistory #computerhistory #intel #signalsintelligence #spystories #secretprojects #prototype #mythbusting #datahistory #logistics #wartime #britishhistory #alliedforces #documentary #unsungheroes