ENIGMA Machine

23 OCT 95
ENIGMA Machine and Bombe

Coded communications were used extensively during World War II.  No secret was better kept than that the Allied forces were using mechanical calculating machines such as this "Bombe" to break the secret German "Enigma" code.  Developments in codebreaking helped foster the growth of the computer industry after the war.  This display is from the "Information Age" exhibit at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.