Allen William Mark Coombs (23 October 1911 - 30 January 1995) was a British electronics engineer who worked at the Post Office Research Station at Dollis Hill and became one of the principal designers of the Mark II version of Colossus, the codebreaking computer used at Bletchley Park during World War Two, taking over leadership of the Colossus project when Tommy Flowers moved to other work. He later worked on the MOSAIC computer and headed a scientific division developing optical character recognition for postal mechanization, including an early postcode-reading machine. He was educated at the University of Glasgow, earning a BSc in 1932 and a PhD in 1936.
Facts
FAQs
What else did Allen Coombs work on besides Colossus?
Most of his Post Office research work from 1936 to 1973 is still classified.
Coombs worked for the British Post Office from 1936 to 1973, in its research branch, and most of the projects he worked on there are still classified. Colossus is therefore only the best known part of a long career in Post Office research, and much of the rest cannot be described from public sources.
Connections
Associated With
Tommy Flowers, Pioneers Colossus collaborators at Bletchley Park/Dollis Hill: Coombs assisted Flowers designing the original Colossus electronics before taking over leadership of Mark 2 production.
In Field
Source Wikipedia: Allen Coombs
Invented
Verified en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossus_computer: "Allen Coombs took over leadership of the production Mark 2 Colossi, the first of which ... became operational at 08:00 on 1 June 1944." Coombs also assisted Tommy Flowers in the original electronics design.
In the Other Atlases
Nationality
Also in Geography Atlas: the nationality of this subject.
Source Wikipedia: Allen CoombsLead sentence 1tier 2Quote, Lead sentence 1
Allen William Mark ("Doc") Coombs (23 October 1911 – 30 January 1995) was a British electronics engineer and early computer designer at the Post Office Research Station, Dollis Hill, known for his work on the Colossus and MOSAIC (computer) computers.
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Allen Coombs
Wikimedia FoundationLead section
Allen William Mark ("Doc") Coombs (23 October 1911 - 30 January 1995) was a British electronics engineer and early computer designer at the Post Office Research Station, Dollis Hill, known for his work on the Colossus and MOSAIC (computer) computers.
- In Field: Computer Architecture, Lead paragraph
View the Source Allen Coombs (Wikidata)
Wikidata alias: Allen William Mark (Doc) CoombsQuote, Wikidata alias: Allen William Mark (Doc) Coombs
Allen William Mark (Doc) Coombs
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