S24-D18P, How the Enigma Code Was Broken

The now legendary Enigma machine was used by all branches of Nazi Germany’smilitary to encode messages by scrambling letters that could be read only by another
machine with proper decoder keys. The fact that the Allies were able to intercept and read messages sent at the highest levels of secrecy likely shortened the war. This class will explain the general principle of encrypting messages and describe how the Enigma machine worked, including the Allies’ ability to exploit a small weakness in its design. The class will combine a discussion of code breaking with World War II history and the later history of how the effort to break the Enigma code came to light.

Presenter: Dan Sherman
Dan Sherman is a retired economist who has given talks on many topics to groups around the Washington area, including LLI. In addition to film and music (the subjects of most of his talks), he loves mathematics and history, including the topic of code breaking. He lives in Alexandria, but will be moving to Williamsburg where he has a house on a lake.

LLI Coordinator: Jo Anne Renton