Enigma machineGerman cipher machine during World War IIMilitary Model Enigma I, in use from 1930The Enigma machine is a cipher device developed and used in the early- to mid-20th century to protect commercial, diplomatic, and military communication. It was employed extensively by Nazi Germany during World War II, in all branches of the German military. The Enigma machine was considered so secure that it was used to encipher the most top-secret messages.
Bomba (cryptography)The bomba, or bomba kryptologiczna (Polish for "bomb" or "cryptologic bomb"), was a special-purpose machine designed around October 1938 by Polish Cipher Bureau cryptologist Marian Rejewski to break German Enigma-machine ciphers. EtymologyHow the machine came to be called a "bomb" has been an object of fascination and speculation.
Gordon WelchmanWilliam Gordon Welchman (15 June 1906 – 8 October 1985) was an English mathematician. During World War II, he worked at Britain's secret decryption centre at Bletchley Park, where he was one of the most important contributors. In 1948, after the war, he moved to the US and later worked on the design of military communications systems.
Marian RejewskiMarian Adam Rejewski (Polish:; 16 August 1905 – 13 February 1980) was a Polish mathematician and cryptologist who in late 1932 reconstructed the sight-unseen German military Enigma cipher machine.
Alan TuringEnglish computer scientist (1912–1954)Alan Mathison Turing (; 23 June 1912 – 7 June 1954) was an English mathematician and logician widely regarded as the father of theoretical computer science. He formalised the concepts of algorithm and computation with the Turing machine, a model of a general-purpose computer, and his contributions to cryptanalysis helped the Allies of World War II decipher messages encrypted by the German Enigma machine.
Bletchley ParkWWII code-breaking siteBletchley Park is an English country house and estate in Bletchley, Milton Keynes (Buckinghamshire), that became the principal centre of Alliedcode-breaking during the Second World War. During World War II, the estate housed the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS), which regularly penetrated the secret communications of the Axis powers – most importantly the German Enigma and Lorenz ciphers.
Cipher Bureau (Poland)The Cipher Bureau (Polish: Biuro Szyfrów) was the Second Department of Polish General Staff unit charged with SIGINT and both cryptography (the use of ciphers and codes) and cryptanalysis (the study of ciphers and codes, for the purpose of "breaking" them). The precursor of the agency that would become the Cipher Bureau was created in May 1919, during the Polish-Soviet War (1919–1921), and played a vital role in securing Poland's survival and victory in that war.
World War IIGlobal conflict from 1939 to 1945BelligerentsAlliesAxisCommanders and leadersMain Allied leaders: Joseph StalinFranklin D. RooseveltWinston ChurchillChiang Kai-shekMain Axis leaders: Adolf HitlerHirohitoBenito MussoliniCasualties and losses 60–75 million deaths (military and civilian) World War II, or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945), was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers.
Government Code and Cypher SchoolThe Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) was a British signals intelligence agency set up in 1919. During the First World War, the British Army and Royal Navy had separate signals intelligence agencies, MI1b and NID25 (initially known as Room 40) respectively. It was particularly known for its work on codebreaking at Bletchley Park and after the war became the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ).British EnglishBritish English is the set of varieties of the English language native to the United Kingdom, especially Great Britain. More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in England, or, more broadly, to the collective dialects of English throughout the United Kingdom taken as a single umbrella variety, for instance additionally incorporating Scottish English, Welsh English, and Northern Irish English.
ElectromechanicsElectromechanics combine processes and procedures drawn from electrical engineering and mechanical engineering. Electromechanics focus on the interaction of electrical and mechanical systems as a whole and how the two systems interact with each other.
CryptographyCryptography, or cryptology, is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of adversarial behavior. More generally, cryptography is about constructing and analyzing protocols that prevent third parties or the public from reading private messages. Modern cryptography exists at the intersection of the disciplines of mathematics, computer science, information security, electrical engineering, digital signal processing, physics, and others.*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.