Automatic Computing Engine

Turing completed the ambitious design in late 1945, having had experience in the years prior with the secret Colossus computer at Bletchley Park.

The project was managed by John R. Womersley,[2] superintendent of the Mathematics Division of the National Physical Laboratory (NPL).

[4] However, because of the strict and long-lasting secrecy around the Bletchley Park work, he was prohibited (because of the Official Secrets Act) from explaining that he knew that his ideas could be implemented in an electronic device.

Turing's report on the ACE was written in late 1945 and included detailed logical circuit diagrams and a cost estimate of £11,200.

Initially, it was planned that Tommy Flowers, the engineer at the Post Office Research Station at Dollis Hill in north London, who had been responsible for building the Colossus computers, should build the ACE, but because of the secrecy around his wartime achievements and the pressure of post-war work, this was not possible.

This was built by Allen Coombs and William Chandler of Dollis Hill who had worked with Tommy Flowers on building the ten Colossus computers.

[16] Other derivatives of the ACE include the EMI Electronic Business Machine and the Packard Bell Corporation PB 250.