NEWS RELEASE
4 May
Codebreaker Bill Tutte to be celebrated in centenary exhibition
Bletchley Park to focus on the life of renowned mathematician with new exhibition and centenary symposium
Bletchley Park is to celebrate the centenary of Bill Tutte's birth with a new exhibition about the elite
Codebreaker. The display will open on 14 May with the Bill Tutte Centenary Symposium, a series of
lectures exploring the life and works of the renowned mathematician.
Tutte, a Cambridge graduate from Newmarket, made an often overlooked achievement in unravelling
the working of the Lorenz machine, a more complex system than Enigma that was used by the German
high command. He then devised a statistical method of breaking the code, allowing Bletchley Park to
decode some of the most top-secret messages sent during the war and paving the way for the creation
of Colossus, the world's first semi-programmable electronic computer.
After the war, Tutte's work in graph theory led to some of the key mathematical developments that have
shaped the internet today, such as the science behind search engines.
"As with many of his wartime colleagues, Bill Tutte's impact at Bletchley Park during the Second World War
is equal to the importance of his legacy to mathematics and computing today," says Iain Standen, CEO
of the Bletchley Park Trust. "We are delighted to be marking the centenary of his birth with a series of
lectures on his life and work, at the Bill Tutte Centenary Symposium, here in the Mansion. This also marks
the opening of a new exhibition - 'Bill Tutte: Mathematician + Codebreaker' - that will give our visitors the
chance to find out about his remarkable achievements."
Tutte's successes were on a par with those of Alan Turing, who received an OBE for his wartime work, yet
Tutte was granted no recognition from the Government during his lifetime. After leaving Bletchley Park he
was appointed a Fellow at Trinity College, Cambridge, before emigrating to Canada, where he became
a renowned mathematician and professor at Waterloo University, near Toronto. He died on 2 May 2002,
aged 84.
Dr David Kenyon, Research Historian at Bletchley Park, says: "Tutte’s contribution was a turning point in
what Bletchley Park was able to achieve during WW2. The Allies' understanding of the German plans in
France prior to D-Day is very significantly based on Fish [Lorenz] intercepts rather than Enigma. Had they
not had this intelligence, their understanding would have been much weaker."
Milton Keynes-based technology company White Clarke Group has supported the exhibition. Group CEO
Brendan Gleeson says: “Without strong mathematicians like Bill Tutte it is possible that the outcome of the
war could have been very different and that we may not have the same quality of modern information
technology we have today. The knowledge that came out of Bletchley Park set the foundations for the
work being carried out in technologies such as Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence today.”
'Bill Tutte: Mathematician + Codebreaker’ opens to the general public on 15 May, following the Bill Tutte
Symposium on 14 May. Speakers at the symposium include Dr Kenyon, Tony Comer (GCHQ Historian),
Gordon Corera (BBC Security Correspondent), Dr David Bedford (School of Computing and
Mathematics, Keele University) and Claire Butterfield (Bill Tutte Memorial Fund). The exhibition is free with
entry to the museum, and tickets for the Symposium start at £18 and can be purchased at the
new Bletchley Park website.
-ENDSFor further information, high-res images or to arrange an interview, contact Gemma Briggs, Press Officer,
Bletchley Park 01908 272661 [email protected]
For visitor information, contact 01908 640404, [email protected], or go to
www.bletchleypark.org.uk
About Bletchley Park
Bletchley Park is a place of exceptional historical importance, open to visitors throughout the year. It
remains highly relevant to our lives today and for the future. It is the home of British codebreaking and a
birthplace of modern information technology. It played a major role in World War Two, producing secret
intelligence which had a direct and profound influence on the outcome of the conflict.
Over the past twenty years Bletchley Park has become an internationally renowned site, visited by
people from around the world, which acknowledges the successes from the war and the people
responsible for them. It celebrates their values: broad-minded patriotism, commitment, discipline and
technological excellence. By presenting and explaining these achievements and these values, in the
very place where they occurred, Bletchley Park brings together the dramatic history of the twentieth
century with the challenges we face in the twenty first in our rapidly changing and technologically
complex society.
About White Clarke Group
White Clarke Group is the global first-class provider in end-to-end automotive and asset finance software
solutions and consulting services. It is a global organization employing around 500 professionals, with
offices in the UK, USA, Canada, Australia, Austria, Germany, India and China.
The company’s award-winning CALMS end-to-end platform provides a flexible workflow approach that
automates the entire business process from origination through contract to portfolio management ―
trusted by more than 100 customers in 30 countries around the globe. For more information, please
visit www.whiteclarkegroup.com