CCTV auction.jpg (Photo : China Daily)
A rare enigma coding machine used by German Nazis during World War II was sold at a price of $233,000 by an unnamed person at Sotheby's in London.
The particular machine which is rare because the Nazis ordered to destroy all Enigma machines as they retreated, was expected to sell at a price between 50,000 to 70,000 euros but instead was sold at a higher price of 149,000 euros, equivalent to $233,000, NBC News reported.
The selled Enigma machine is in good condition with complete three rotors with Bakelike thumbwheels, standard QWERTZ keyboard, plug board with 10 cables, including two spares stored in the lid, and spare bulb rack with bulbs in an oak carrying case. However, the machine lacks one lamp for letter K and the reflector is slightly rusted.
Originated in 1919, the purpose of Enigma machines was to send cryptic messages among themselves which rendered other rival nations stymied for decades. The Nazi machines were controlled by wheels set with the code du jour. Typing on the letters would illuminate the appropriate characters to send the cryptic message. The Nazi machines have 159 million million million combinations.
Other nations adapted the design of Enigma machines for their own cipher machines. The German proto-computer which were use by Nazis for war strategy was hard to decipher as it is complicated to master but it was famously interpreted by Alan Turing and his team at Bletchley park.
Turing and his colleagues deciphered Enigma-coded messages in 1940 by devising Bombe, a mechanical computer, Boing Boing reported. The breakthrough of the Polish code was even dramatized in "The Imitation Game."
Turing Machine ushered the stage for modern computing and Turing Test identified how closely a computer can immitate human behavior. Turing's development ushered the way for the Allies to break the Nazi code.
The Nazis upgraded the Enigma architecture by installing more wheels to make it harder to decipher but the Naval Security Station in Washington DC were able to crack the Enigma code, giving the Allies an advantage during the Battle of the Atlantic.
The Allies would eventually beat the German Nazis along with the Axis Powers as they develop technologies to decipher Enigma code. Development of SIGINT(signals intelligence) and cryptanalasis enabled the countering process of decription. The British also developed the Ultra, a pioneering method for deciphering the Enigma code.
Aside from the Enigma Machine, other technological and engineering feats were achieved during or after the World War II.
