John Harper (computer engineer) facts for kids
John Harper was born on November 11, 1937. He is a retired computer engineer, which means he designed and built computer systems. John Harper is famous for leading a special team that rebuilt an amazing machine from World War II called the Bombe. This machine helped to break secret codes!
John Harper's Life and Work
John Harper was born in West Ealing, London. For most of his working life, he built computers for a company called International Computers Limited (ICL). He worked on early computers like the ICT 1500, ICL 1900, and 2900.
He studied hard in the evenings to become a highly skilled engineer. He joined important groups like the British Computer Society (BCS). This showed he was a top expert in his field.
John also helped plan events for the 'Alan Turing Year' in 2012. This was a big celebration of the life and work of Alan Turing, a famous mathematician who helped create early computers and break codes during World War II.
The Bombe Rebuild Project
From 1995 to 2006, John Harper led a team from the Computer Conservation Society. Their goal was to rebuild a working Bombe machine. The original Bombe machines were used during World War II to help decode secret messages from the German army.
On September 6, 2006, John Harper and his team proudly showed off the rebuilt Bombe. It was working perfectly! This was a huge achievement, bringing a piece of history back to life.
On March 24, 2009, John Harper received a special award at Bletchley Park. It was the 49th Engineering Heritage Award from the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. This award honored the Computer Conservation Society for their amazing work in saving and restoring the Bombe machine.
Awards and Honors
John Harper has received several important awards for his work:
- In 2007, he became an Honorary Fellow of the British Computer Society. This is a very high honor.
- In 2011, he received an Honorary Doctor of the University degree from the Open University.
