Twenty Questions - Round 423

[Jamiet99uk]

Primarily known as a physicist, mathematician, or computer scientist?

Yes.

[Jamiet99uk]

Born before President Severo Fernández of Bolivia was deposed?

Wikipedia suggests that was 1899. On that basis, NO.

[Jamiet99uk]

1. Real human born somewhere other than North America, or fictional character who was introduced after 2003
2. Real human born in Europe, or fictional character introduced in the Americas
3. Real human
4. Born after the storming of the Bastille.
5. Born in Northern or Western Europe
6. Deceased
7. Man
8. Born in Northern Europe
9. Born in what is today England
10. Primarily known for arts, athletics, science, or invention
11. NOT primarily known for the arts
12. Born after the Battle of Rorke's Drift
13. Had one of those names (I'm not going to copy out the whole list).
14. Born before (or on the date of) the signing of the Treaty of Versailles.
15. Not primarily known for athletics.
16. Primarily known as a physicist, mathematician, or computer scientist.
17. Born after President Severo Fernández of Bolivia was deposed.

Not: Jon Arbuckle

[Spartaculous]

Was he either born before the signing of the Treaty of Portsmouth or primarily known as a physicist?

[Jamiet99uk]

Was he either born before the signing of the Treaty of Portsmouth or primarily known as a physicist?

No.

[Jamiet99uk]

TWO questions left.

[Spartaculous]

Free guess: Tommy Flowers.

[Jamiet99uk]

Free guess: Tommy Flowers.

Well done!

Tommy Flowers, the designer of Colossus, the world's first digital, electronic, programmable computer. Correct!

[Spartaculous]

Free guess: Tommy Flowers.

Well done!

Tommy Flowers, the designer of Colossus, the world's first digital, electronic, programmable computer. Correct!

Tommy Flowers was one of the Bletchley Park codebreakers who broke the German Lorenz cipher during WW2. He designed and built the Colossus computer - the world's first programmable electronic computer - as part of that work.

After WW2, Tommy Flowers designed the first "ERNIE" machine to generate true random numbers for the Premium Bond draw. Instead of a software random number generator, ERNIE is a hardware random number generator. The first model used thermal noise to generate random numbers. (The latest version uses quantum noise!).

You know about this because you work at National Savings & Investments, a UK Government agency that runs the Premium Bonds, alongside various other savings products.

[Spartaculous]

Tommy Flowers was one of the Bletchley Park codebreakers who broke the German Lorenz cipher during WW2. He designed and built the Colossus computer - the world's first programmable electronic computer - as part of that work.

After WW2, Tommy Flowers designed the first "ERNIE" machine to generate true random numbers for the Premium Bond draw. Instead of a software random number generator, ERNIE is a hardware random number generator. The first model used thermal noise to generate random numbers. (The latest version uses quantum noise!).

I know about this because I work at National Savings & Investments, a UK Government agency that runs the Premium Bonds, alongside various other savings products.

[Jamiet99uk]

Free guess: Tommy Flowers.

Well done!

Tommy Flowers, the designer of Colossus, the world's first digital, electronic, programmable computer. Correct!

Tommy Flowers was one of the Bletchley Park codebreakers who broke the German Lorenz cipher during WW2. He designed and built the Colossus computer - the world's first programmable electronic computer - as part of that work.

After WW2, Tommy Flowers designed the first "ERNIE" machine to generate true random numbers for the Premium Bond draw. Instead of a software random number generator, ERNIE is a hardware random number generator. The first model used thermal noise to generate random numbers. (The latest version uses quantum noise!).

You know about this because you work at National Savings & Investments, a UK Government agency that runs the Premium Bonds, alongside various other savings products.

Correct on all counts! I am interested in the history of my organisation and I know a lot about Tommy Flowers and the development of ERNIE as a result.

I thought he might be quite hard to guess, but you got it!

[Spartaculous]

Ya, random number generation is a pretty cool concept. Next round is up!