SciTech Tuesday: Why the Science of WWII Matters

If you are a regular follower of SciTech Tuesday, you might have noticed a consistent theme through the blogs:  connecting the science of WWII to the cutting edge science and technology of today.  Making personal connections can bring history to life. SciTech Tuesday provides a forum to answer questions like, “Where did that come from?” or “Why does this matter?”

Human need and the necessity of winning the war drove scientific and technological progress at a rate unmatched in history. Take the Colossus, the world’s first electronic computer, built using 1500 vacuum tubes as switches to break encrypted German messages through complex statistical analyses.  Codes that once took weeks to decipher by hand could be broken in just hours by the massive computer, giving the allies critical information about German military operations. The technology used in Colossus, now part of our everyday lives, is exemplified by the proliferation of tablet and smart phone technology.  Scientific and technological advancements like the smart phone exist today because of the war that changed the world, and that matters.

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Post by Annie Tête, STEM Education Coordinator at The National WWII Museum.