[Cryptography] RIP Claude Shannon, and the Zimmerman Telegram

Dave Horsfall dave at horsfall.org
Fri Feb 23 16:50:14 EST 2018


We lost Claude Shannon on this day in 2001.  He was a mathematician, 
electrical engineer, and cryptographer; he is regarded as the "father" of 
information theory, and he pioneered digital circuit design.  Amongst 
other things he built a barbed-wire telegraph, the "Ultimate Machine" (it 
reached up and switched itself off), a Roman numeral computer ("THROBAC"), 
the Minivac 601 (a digital trainer), a Rubik's Cube solver, a mechanical 
mouse that learned how to solve mazes, and outlined a chess program.  He 
formulated the security mantra "The enemy knows the system", and did 
top-secret work in WW-2 on crypto and fire-control systems.

And in 1917 the famous Zimmerman Telegram was presented to the US 
Ambassador by the British Government, who promptly forwarded it to 
President Woody.  One decrypted message, and the rest is history...

-- 
Dave Horsfall DTM (VK2KFU)  "Those who don't understand security will suffer."


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