Gordon Welchman was a World War II codebreaking hero, without him the top secret German Enigma codes might never have been broken. The war as a result may have lasted a further two extra years and tens of thousands more would have died. Gordon Welchman should be famous, his contribution to the war was as great as Alan Turing’s so why is it that we have never heard of him?

Welchman was the architect of a code-breaking technique that was so cleaver and so powerful that it’s wartime use at Bletchley Park still remains classified. Like Turing his extraordinary legacy began at Bletchley and continues to this day. Just as Turing is now celebrated as the genius behind the computers that dominate our world so Welchman’s influence is everywhere, but until now it has remained in the shadows. His secret work in codebreaking and communications has an impact beyond anything he could have imagined.