[dave at horsfall.org: [TUHS] Happy birthday, Charles Babbage!]

[John Newman]

Interesting - I didn't know Babbage dabbled in crypto.. Apparently
the "Vigenere Cipher" was considered unbreakable for ~3 centuries,
although Babbage and others broke it and variants of it at various
times up to and in the 19th century...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vigen%C3%A8re_cipher

----- Forwarded message from Dave Horsfall <dave at horsfall.org> -----

Date: Tue, 26 Dec 2017 10:58:47 +1100 (EST)
From: Dave Horsfall <dave at horsfall.org>
To: The Eunuchs Hysterical Society <tuhs at tuhs.org>
Subject: [TUHS] Happy birthday, Charles Babbage!
User-Agent: Alpine 2.21 (BSF 202 2017-01-01)

Charles Babbage KH FRS was born on this day in 1791; pretty much the father of
the computer, a model of his "difference engine" built to the standards of the
day worked, complete with its printer.  What is not so well known about him
was that he dabbled in cryptography, and broke the Vigenère cipher;
unfortunately for him it was classified as a military secret, so one Friedrich
Kasiski got the credit instead.

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


----- End forwarded message -----

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