Enigmatic heroes

It's hard to cast one of Cambridge's most enduring stereotypes, the eccentric genius, as war hero. But in fact it was this very brand of academic brilliance that brought the Second World War to an early conclusion, saving perhaps millions of lives, and preventing a nuclear strike on Germany.

On Friday 23 March 2001 the final Science at Seven lecture of National Science Week will be presented by Professor Christopher Andrew, of Cambridge University's Faculty of History. He will explore Cambridge's unique connection with code-breaking heroes.

"The British Government came to realise the value of recruiting scientists who were both young and extremely bright," explains Professor Andrew.

"Bletchley Park, the famous code-breaking centre codenamed 'Station X', recruited far more people from Cambridge during the Second World War than from any other university. One of the reasons why this organisation was so successful was that it was prepared to recruit not merely younger codebreakers than ever before but also people whom foreign governments and intelligence agencies would have thought simply too eccentric."

Key to the Bletchley Park story, were figures such as Alan Turing, the King's College mathematician, who cycled to work at Bletchley wearing a gas mask to ward off influenza and invented the world's first electronic computer; and Bletchley historian Harry Hinsley, who was recruited to work there before he had even finished his undergraduate degree and went on to negotiate a top-secret code-breaking agreement with the United States which still forms the most special part of the British-American 'Special Relationship'.

The first Battle of El Alamein in 1942, the Battle of the Atlantic in 1943, and the Normandy Landings in 1944, all crucial to the Allied Forces overall victory, were only won through successful codebreaking, explains Professor Andrew.

"By the summer of 1945, the Americans had the atomic bomb and there's no question but that they would have used it on Germany rather than Japan had the war in Europe not ended by that time."

But the Cambridge connection with codebreaking started well before Bletchley Park and does not end with VE day. The KGB believed that its ablest group of foreign agents were five young Cambridge graduates whom it called the Magnificent Five: Philby, Burgess, Blunt, Mclean and Cairncross. They were uncovered early in the Cold War as the result of another codebreaking coup. As well as discussing 'Station X', Professor Andrew will be looking at the other face of undercover Cambridge intelligence genius in his lecture.

Professor Andrew's lecture, Cambridge Codebreakers, will take place at the Lady Mitchell Hall, at 7.00pm on Friday 23 March. Doors will open at 6.20pm and visitors should arrive early to secure a seat.