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I wonder if Clifford Cocks was the inspiration for the passage in Neal Stephenson's book Cryptonomicon, where the rookie NSA employee finds the (zeta?) function
by mnutt 16y ago
I wonder if Clifford Cocks was the inspiration for the passage in Neal Stephenson's book Cryptonomicon, where the rookie NSA employee finds the (zeta?) function that is seeded with the word "COMSTOCK"? Either way, the real history of cryptography is often just as interesting as the fiction written about it.
- RickHull 16y agoComstock is a recurring name throughout Stephenson's works. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Baroque_Cycle http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Baroque_Cycle in particular comes to mind.
- mnutt 16y agoDefinitely. And the "rookie solves a seemingly impossible math problem without knowing it's supposed to be difficult" is a pretty common archetype, but it seemed like enough details matched that maybe there was a connection.
- mzl 16y agoOne nice instance of the archetype is George Danzig: http://www.snopes.com/college/homework/unsolvable.asp http://www.snopes.com/college/homework/unsolvable.asp