Saturday - The Museum of Science and Industry

The Museum of Science and Industry was quieter than usual for a Saturday afternoon, which meant there was plenty of time to see the exhibits. Mike and Ellie were totally engrossed when a kindly-looking lady came over. "I'm afraid that the museum closes in 15 minutes", she said, "could you start making your way to the exit please".

"Can't we just have a look at that exhibit?", asked Ellie pointing to an impressive collection of electronic equipment at the side of the room. "Ah, the Baby", smiled the lady, "I can make an exception for my favourite exhibit". She explained that the machine was a replica of the first stored-program computer originally designed and built at the University of Manchester in the 1940s. "There's a story that Alan Turing himself hid a secret program in the original design that would lead to a collection of silver ingots that he had buried during the war. Personally, I don't believe a word of it."

Mike had been daydreaming, but the words "silver ingots" woke him up. "Turing's Treasure", he said, "that's much more interesting than an old computer". He started to examine the replica closely. "If this is an exact copy, then it should also have the clue to the treasure", he reasoned. Before anyone could stop him, he began flicking switches and pushing buttons. The machine grumbled into life, began to whir, and then ground to a halt. "What have you done?" cried Ellie, "You'd better not have broken it!". Suddenly, the display flickered into action and the following letters appeared on the cathode ray tube:

"That looks like a clue to me!" Mike grinned. "Hmm", said the lady, "it looks more like gibberish. I think you should leave before you break anything else". "Can't I copy it down", said Ellie, "just in case". Quickly, she copied the message into her notebook before grabbing Mike's arm and hauling him out of the museum.

On the bus on the way home, Ellie got out her notebook. "I'm sure it means something", said Mike, "if I just knew what..."

Can you help? What does the message say? The code word is the 21st word in the message.

Background:

The Baby was designed and constructed in 1948 at the University of Manchester by a team led by Frederic 'Freddie' Williams and Tom Kilburn. It was the world's first computer that was able to store and run its own programs. Although he did not contribute towards the design, Alan Turing, who had recently joined the University of Manchester, did write the third program to run on the Baby (it performed long division). The Baby was intended as an experimental research project, but it led directly to the development of the Ferranti Mark I - the world's first commercially available programmable computer. In 1998, to celebrate the 50th anniversary, a working replica of the Baby was constructed at the Museum of Science and Industry, where it can still be seen, see here.

Alan Turing Cryptography Competition 2012 is organised by the The Department of Mathematics at The University of Manchester.
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