Template:Featured Article/12 2009



John Fleming was a scientist who worked alongside Professor Ernest Reinhart under the auspices of the Ministry of Defence. In 1970, Fleming and his team developed a highly advanced radio telescope at Bouldershaw Fell in the Yorkshire Dales. Shortly before its official opening, Doctor Fleming picked up a string of intermittent signals, which he determined had originated from the distant Andromeda Galaxy. Examining the signal, Doctor Fleming realized that the signal was in fact a computer program. He brought his findings to his superiors who compelled him to secrecy.

Fleming then went to the London Institute of Electronics and used their computer resources to decode the messages from Boulderhsaw Fell. There, he met a young research assistant named Christine. Working to translate the code, Fleming theorized that the signals were actually a mathematical set of instructions, which included designs for the construction of a larger, more complex computer system. The Ministry gave Fleming permission to begin construction on the supercomputer and they set up a military research center at Thorness in Scotland.

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