Tony Sale facts for kids
Anthony Edgar "Tony" Sale (born January 30, 1931 – died August 28, 2011) was a British expert in electronics and computers. He was a computer programmer, a computer hardware engineer, and a historian who studied computers. Tony Sale led the project to build a working Mark 2 Colossus computer again. This huge project took place between 1993 and 2008. Today, you can see the rebuilt Colossus at The National Museum of Computing in Bletchley Park, England.
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Tony Sale's Early Life and Passions
Tony Sale went to school at Dulwich College in south London. When he was a teenager, he built a robot named George. He made George using parts from a toy construction set called Meccano. He kept working on George, and by 1949, he had built the fourth version! This robot even got a lot of attention in the news.
In 1949, Tony joined the Royal Air Force (RAF), which is Britain's air force. He served there until 1952. During his time in the RAF, he became an officer with the rank of Flying Officer. He taught at the RAF Officers Radar School. In the 1950s, Tony Sale also worked as an engineer for MI5. MI5 is the United Kingdom's security and intelligence agency, similar to a spy agency.
Rebuilding the Colossus Computer
One of Tony Sale's biggest achievements was leading the project to rebuild the Colossus Mark II. This incredible machine was one of the world's first electronic digital computers. It was used during World War II to help break secret codes.
Between 1992 and 2007, Tony Sale and many volunteers worked hard to build a working model of the Colossus. This rebuilt computer is now on display at The National Museum of Computing at Bletchley Park. Bletchley Park was a secret center during World War II where codebreakers worked.
Tony Sale lived with his wife, Margaret, and they had three children and seven grandchildren.
Tony Sale's Work with Computers
Tony Sale worked for several important organizations. He was part of Marconi Research Laboratories. He was also a Technical Director for the British Computer Society. Later, he managed a project to restore old computers at the Science Museum in London.
He became very interested in computers and joined the British Computer Society (BCS) in 1965. He became a high-ranking member, a Fellow, in 1988. He even helped start the BCS branch in Bedfordshire and became its Chairman.
In 1989, Tony Sale became a senior curator at the Science Museum in London. A curator is someone who takes care of a museum's collections. He helped restore some of the museum's old computers. He also helped start the Computer Conservation Society in 1989. This group works to save and restore old computers.
Tony Sale was also very involved with the Bletchley Park Trust starting in 1992. He joined a campaign in 1991 to save Bletchley Park from being turned into houses. He became the Secretary for the Bletchley Park Trust and later its Museums Director.
In 1993, he started the Colossus Rebuild Project. This project aimed to rebuild the original Colossus computer. The first Colossus was designed by Tommy Flowers in 1943.
Tony Sale gave many talks about code breaking during wartime in the UK, Europe, and the US. He also worked as a technical adviser for the 2001 movie Enigma, which was about code breaking.
Tony Sale created a website called Codes and Ciphers in the Second World War. This website is a great place to find information about how codes were broken during World War II. He also wrote a booklet called Colossus 1943–1996. This booklet explains how the German Lorenz cipher was broken and tells the story of his amazing work rebuilding the Colossus computer.
Awards and Legacy
Because of his incredible work rebuilding the Colossus, Tony Sale received several awards. He was named the Comdex IT Personality of the Year in 1997. He also received the Silver Medal from the Royal Scottish Society of Arts in 2000.
After he passed away, the British Computer Conservation Society created the Tony Sale Award in 2012. This award is given to people who do great work in saving and restoring old computers. It includes a trophy and money to help with travel.
