James J. Gillogly (born 5 March 1946) is an American

computer scientist A computer scientist is a person who is trained in the academic study of computer science. Computer scientists typically work on the theoretical side of computation, as opposed to the hardware side on which computer engineers mainly focus (al ...

and

cryptographer Cryptography, or cryptology (from grc, , translit=kryptós "hidden, secret"; and ''graphein'', "to write", or ''-logia'', "study", respectively), is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of adver ...

Biography

Early life

His interest in cryptography stems from his boyhood, as did his interest in mathematics. By junior high he was inventing his own ciphers and challenging his father, entomologist Lorin Gillogly, to solve them. Gillogly wrote a chess-playing program in the Fortran programming language in 1970, and in 1977 he ported the code for " Colossal Cave" from Fortran to C.

Education

He graduated from

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...

in 1978, receiving a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

in computer science. He was advised by

Allen Newell Allen Newell (March 19, 1927 – July 19, 1992) was a researcher in computer science and cognitive psychology at the RAND Corporation and at Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Computer Science, Tepper School of Business, and Department ...

, with his dissertation titled "Performance Analysis of the Technology Chess Program".

Career

Gillogly worked as a computer scientist at

RAND The RAND Corporation (from the phrase "research and development") is an American nonprofit global policy think tank created in 1948 by Douglas Aircraft Company to offer research and analysis to the United States Armed Forces. It is financed ...

, specializing in system design and development, and

computer security Computer security, cybersecurity (cyber security), or information technology security (IT security) is the protection of computer systems and networks from attack by malicious actors that may result in unauthorized information disclosure, the ...

. He has written several articles about technology and cryptography, is currently the editor of the "Cipher Exchange" column for ''

The Cryptogram ''The Cryptogram'' is a Play (theatre), play by United States, American playwright David Mamet. The play concerns the moment when childhood is lost. The story is set in 1959 on the night before a young boy is to go on a camping trip with his fath ...

'', and was president of the

American Cryptogram Association The American Cryptogram Association (ACA) is an American non-profit organization devoted to the hobby of cryptography, with an emphasis on types of codes, ciphers, and cryptograms that can be solved either with pencil and paper, or with computers, ...

. Gillogly was one of the earliest authors of personal computer software, writing utility programs, games and a computerized cookbook published by the

Software Toolworks The Software Toolworks (commonly abbreviated as Toolworks) was an American software and video game developer based in Novato, California. The company was founded by Walt Bilofsky in 1980 out of his Sherman Oaks garage, which he converted into a ...

beginning in 1980.

Cryptanalysis

He is best known for his work solving or debunking some of the world's most famous unsolved codes. In 1980 he wrote a paper on unusual strings in the

Beale Ciphers The Beale ciphers are a set of three ciphertexts, one of which allegedly states the location of a buried treasure of gold, silver and jewels estimated to be worth over US$43 million Comprising three ciphertexts, the first (unsolved) text de ...

, and he received international media attention for being the first person to publicly solve parts 1-3 on the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...

Kryptos ''Kryptos'' is a sculpture by the American artist Jim Sanborn located on the grounds of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Langley, Virginia. Since its dedication on November 3, 1990, there has been much speculation about the meaning of ...

sculpture in 1999. He also coordinates a large mailing list about the ciphers in the

Voynich Manuscript The Voynich manuscript is an illustrated codex hand-written in an otherwise unknown writing system, referred to as 'Voynichese'. The vellum on which it is written has been carbon-dated to the early 15th century (1404–1438), and stylistic anal ...

. On the

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

website, they report that he has been called "arguably the best non-government cryptanalyst in the U.S." in the field of classical (historical) cryptosystem

In 1995 he deciphered a text enciphered by Robert H. Thouless who had hoped the message could prove that the dead could communicate with the living. Gillogly wrote his own software to decipher the text, which was in a variant of the

playfair cipher The Playfair cipher or Playfair square or Wheatstone–Playfair cipher is a manual symmetric encryption technique and was the first literal digram substitution cipher. The scheme was invented in 1854 by Charles Wheatstone, but bears the name of ...

Selected articles

Articles by Gillogly at rand.org
1970–1994
MAX: A FORTRAN Chess Player"
1970, RAND Paper
Exploratory modeling: search through spaces of computational experiments"
1994, RAND Reprint
"The impact of response options and location in a microcomputer interview on drinking drivers' alcohol use self-reports"
1990, Rand Corporation, co-written with Ron D. Hay,s Robert M. Bell, Laural A. Hill, Matthew W. Lewis, Grant N. Marshall, Ronald Nicholas, Gordon Marlatt **"The Technology Chess Program", 1972, ''Artificial Intelligence'', Volume 3, pp. 145–16

April 1980, ''Cryptologia'', Volume 4, Number 2

October 1995, ''Cryptologia'', Volume 19, Number 4

References

External links

"Solving the Enigma of Kryptos"
January 21, 2005, ''

Wired News ''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered in San Fran ...

''
"Cracking the Code of a CIA Sculpture"
July 1999, ''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

''
"Interest grows in solving cryptic CIA puzzle after link to Da Vinci Code"
June 11, 2005, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

''
"Swedish team beats code to win 10,000 pounds"
October 12, 2000, ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

''
"Decoding Nazi Secrets"
by Jim Gillogly; November 2000, ''NOVA Online'',

"Mission Impossible: The Code Even the CIA Can't Crack"
April 20, 2009, ''

Wired Magazine ''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online magazine, online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquar ...

''
"CIA Releases Analyst’s Fascinating Tale of Cracking the Kryptos Sculpture"
June 5, 2013, ''

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Gillogly, James Writers from California Recreational cryptographers Living people Carnegie Mellon University alumni American technology writers 1946 births American cryptographers