4 ms·

The Enigma Machine: How Alan Turing Helped Break the Unbreakable Nazi Code

36 points by narad 14y ago

SeanDav 14y ago
I have always been a huge fan of Alan Turing and could not respect him more, but keep in mind that he was part of a team. The story of Enigma is really a story about a whole spectrum of people, many of whom also played very significant roles and don't get the recognition they deserve.
- gambiting 14y ago
  Especially Polish scientists who broke the Enigma first,and when the war was imminent gave their knowledge to the British team, without which it would be impossible to crack the Enigma completely. It annoys me that they are so rarely mentioned. http://www.codesandciphers.org.uk/virtualbp/poles/poles.htm http://www.codesandciphers.org.uk/virtualbp/poles/poles.htm
  - Tloewald 14y ago
    The linked article at least mentions the Polish Bombe.
hanula 14y ago
More facts: http://www.cryptomuseum.com/crypto/bombe/index.htm http://www.cryptomuseum.com/crypto/bombe/index.htm
mittermayr 14y ago
This guy did a comprehensive job at digesting the material available, had a professional speaker do the audio book, ebook and so forth and gives it all away for free: http://www.bletchleypark.at http://www.bletchleypark.at the audio book is really cool and can be completed in one or two car rides home, loved the compact format. wish more folks would make these little historical snippets (other than wikipedia).
- shabble 14y ago
  I'm slightly confused by his description of: "Oh, but it’s clever, you see, because the Enigma machine [...] translates ordinary messages into code through an ingenious method by which no letter in the code ever repeats, making it almost impossible to decode in the ordinary ways." Since it used a standard alphabet of symbols, and messages >26 chars exist, that statement is wrong. I presume he actually means that plaintext symbols will not code consistently to the same ciphertext symbols (i.e. not a simple substitution cipher), due to the rotation of the rotors. But it's also not entirely far from another very interesting property (and one which significantly aided in the breaking of the code), by which no plaintext symbol can ever map to itself (due to the reflector design)
  - dchris 14y ago
    hi, chris here (i'm the author). you're right, i meant the repetition of the same rotor setting (which is responsible for enciphering the plaintext). can you tell me which paragraph/sentence was confusing? I'm always open for improvement (especially as I'm not a native english speaker and some formulations are not perfect).
yock 14y ago
Numberphile did two episodes on the Enigma machine, with some practical demonstration and a basic discussion of the mathematics involved. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2_Q9FoD-oQ&feature=share&list=UUoxcjq-8xIDTYp3uz647V5A http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2_Q9FoD-oQ&feature=share...
- JshWright 14y ago
  You mean the two videos embedded in TFA?
Tloewald 14y ago
Nice to see that the article mentions the Polish Bombe upon which Turing's work was based. Even so, by now Turing's accomplishments are hardly unknown, and the work of the Poles probably deserves more attention (getting the Bombe from Poland to England as Poland fell to the allied Nazis and Soviets would probably make a good story too.
cs702 14y ago
For those interested in learning more, Simon Singh's "The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography"[1] has a great chapter explaining in detail the creative breakthroughs that allowed Turing to break the Enigma machine when it was stumping pretty much everyone else at Bletchley Park. -- [1] http://www.amazon.com/Code-Book/dp/0385495323 http://www.amazon.com/Code-Book/dp/0385495323
kamaal 14y ago
When it comes to breaking the Enigma Machine, the guy who actually did is a polish mathematician named Marian Rejewski. All credits to Alan Turing. But in all fairness its Marian Rejewski who did it.
- fduran 14y ago
  From what I remember from the excellent Turing's biography by Andrew Hodges, the Polish broke the first (pre-war) version of the Enigma and Turing broke a newer version (naval Enigma which gave away positions of U-boats)
- InclinedPlane 14y ago
  Neither Rejewski nor Turing broke Enigma alone, to give either complete credit without crediting the other is a gross and false simplification. On the whole Turing's work was more significant and ultimately more fruitful but both deserve to be mentioned whenever the subject of breaking Enigma comes up, though others such as Henryk Zygalski and Dilly Knox probably deserve a bit of a mention too.
sproketboy 14y ago
Some people might like this from Numberphile which describes the flaw in the enigma machine that British code breakers used to eventually break the code. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4V2bpZlqx8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4V2bpZlqx8
haar 14y ago
The first half of our initial Haskell module covered breaking the enigma machine, it was great fun and the lecturers made sure to give the back story in detail covering both the british and polish efforts (probably in an attempt to make the module appear 'cooler'). It was a great module and I have the upmost respect for Turing and the unsung Polish efforts made in breaking it.
xwowsersx 14y ago
I don't understand how the combinations of the 26 letters of the alphabet minus the 6 we don't care about (bc we only want 10 pairs) becomes 26!/6! Why does the division make sense here?
chrisbennet 14y ago
Speaking of those who didn't get credit... I couldn't find it during my lunch break, but I saw a documentary about another code breaker/breaking team at Blechley Park during the same period who worked on another German code (more secret than the Enigma that Turning worked on). One of the fellows made the first electronic computer as I recall. It was all kept secret and the code breaker unheralded until just recently.

36 points by narad 14y ago

I have always been a huge fan of Alan Turing and could not respect him more, but keep in mind that he was part of a team. The story of Enigma is really a story about a whole spectrum of people, many of whom also played very significant roles and don't get the recognition they deserve.

gambiting 14y ago
Especially Polish scientists who broke the Enigma first,and when the war was imminent gave their knowledge to the British team, without which it would be impossible to crack the Enigma completely. It annoys me that they are so rarely mentioned. http://www.codesandciphers.org.uk/virtualbp/poles/poles.htm http://www.codesandciphers.org.uk/virtualbp/poles/poles.htm
- Tloewald 14y ago
  The linked article at least mentions the Polish Bombe.

hanula 14y ago

More facts: http://www.cryptomuseum.com/crypto/bombe/index.htm http://www.cryptomuseum.com/crypto/bombe/index.htm

mittermayr 14y ago

This guy did a comprehensive job at digesting the material available, had a professional speaker do the audio book, ebook and so forth and gives it all away for free: http://www.bletchleypark.at http://www.bletchleypark.at the audio book is really cool and can be completed in one or two car rides home, loved the compact format. wish more folks would make these little historical snippets (other than wikipedia).

shabble 14y ago
I'm slightly confused by his description of: "Oh, but it’s clever, you see, because the Enigma machine [...] translates ordinary messages into code through an ingenious method by which no letter in the code ever repeats, making it almost impossible to decode in the ordinary ways." Since it used a standard alphabet of symbols, and messages >26 chars exist, that statement is wrong. I presume he actually means that plaintext symbols will not code consistently to the same ciphertext symbols (i.e. not a simple substitution cipher), due to the rotation of the rotors. But it's also not entirely far from another very interesting property (and one which significantly aided in the breaking of the code), by which no plaintext symbol can ever map to itself (due to the reflector design)
- dchris 14y ago
  hi, chris here (i'm the author). you're right, i meant the repetition of the same rotor setting (which is responsible for enciphering the plaintext). can you tell me which paragraph/sentence was confusing? I'm always open for improvement (especially as I'm not a native english speaker and some formulations are not perfect).

yock 14y ago

Numberphile did two episodes on the Enigma machine, with some practical demonstration and a basic discussion of the mathematics involved. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2_Q9FoD-oQ&feature=share&list=UUoxcjq-8xIDTYp3uz647V5A http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2_Q9FoD-oQ&feature=share...

JshWright 14y ago
You mean the two videos embedded in TFA?

Tloewald 14y ago

Nice to see that the article mentions the Polish Bombe upon which Turing's work was based. Even so, by now Turing's accomplishments are hardly unknown, and the work of the Poles probably deserves more attention (getting the Bombe from Poland to England as Poland fell to the allied Nazis and Soviets would probably make a good story too.

cs702 14y ago

For those interested in learning more, Simon Singh's "The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography"[1] has a great chapter explaining in detail the creative breakthroughs that allowed Turing to break the Enigma machine when it was stumping pretty much everyone else at Bletchley Park. -- [1] http://www.amazon.com/Code-Book/dp/0385495323 http://www.amazon.com/Code-Book/dp/0385495323

kamaal 14y ago

When it comes to breaking the Enigma Machine, the guy who actually did is a polish mathematician named Marian Rejewski. All credits to Alan Turing. But in all fairness its Marian Rejewski who did it.

fduran 14y ago
From what I remember from the excellent Turing's biography by Andrew Hodges, the Polish broke the first (pre-war) version of the Enigma and Turing broke a newer version (naval Enigma which gave away positions of U-boats)
InclinedPlane 14y ago
Neither Rejewski nor Turing broke Enigma alone, to give either complete credit without crediting the other is a gross and false simplification. On the whole Turing's work was more significant and ultimately more fruitful but both deserve to be mentioned whenever the subject of breaking Enigma comes up, though others such as Henryk Zygalski and Dilly Knox probably deserve a bit of a mention too.

sproketboy 14y ago

Some people might like this from Numberphile which describes the flaw in the enigma machine that British code breakers used to eventually break the code. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4V2bpZlqx8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4V2bpZlqx8

haar 14y ago

The first half of our initial Haskell module covered breaking the enigma machine, it was great fun and the lecturers made sure to give the back story in detail covering both the british and polish efforts (probably in an attempt to make the module appear 'cooler'). It was a great module and I have the upmost respect for Turing and the unsung Polish efforts made in breaking it.

xwowsersx 14y ago

I don't understand how the combinations of the 26 letters of the alphabet minus the 6 we don't care about (bc we only want 10 pairs) becomes 26!/6! Why does the division make sense here?

chrisbennet 14y ago

Speaking of those who didn't get credit... I couldn't find it during my lunch break, but I saw a documentary about another code breaker/breaking team at Blechley Park during the same period who worked on another German code (more secret than the Enigma that Turning worked on). One of the fellows made the first electronic computer as I recall. It was all kept secret and the code breaker unheralded until just recently.