German Mathematicians and Cryptology during WWII

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• Sandy Zabell (Northwestern University)
• Thursday 03 November 2016, 11:00-12:00
• Seminar Room 2, Newton Institute.

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FOS - Probability and statistics in forensic science

The exploits of British mathematicians such as Alan Turing during the 1939-1945 cryptologic war are well-known.  But what about the other side?  Germany was after all (at least before the Nazis) the pre-eminent country for mathematics.

The answer turns out to be surprising:  a large number of German mathematicians who had distinguished careers after the war (including three future Presidents of the DMV , the German Mathematical Society) worked in signals intelligence during WWII ;  and the Germans had many successes in this area.

Why then did they have such a meltdown on the defensive side of communications security, most of their methods of encryption being broken by the Allies?  Here too, surprisingly, there is a very simple answer.

This talk is part of the Isaac Newton Institute Seminar Series series.

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