Arthur Scherbius
Arthur Scherbius, has become a household name in the field of cryptography, as no discussion on its history is complete without mentioning the world-shattering cipher, the Enigma. He was a German engineer, who worked in the electronics field for the better half of his life, the most significant of which was in the firm- Scherbius & Ritter, which he cofounded in the year 1918.
He was an innovator who is known for his invention of the asynchronous motor. In 1919, Dutch inventor, Hugo Alexander Kock designed a mechanical rotor cipher, shifting authority in 1927 to Scherbius, whose modifications and redesign of his machine lead to the creation of the phenomenon known as the Enigma. This was created with the aim of allowing business professionals to communicate secretively without the use of clumsy code books. He initially tried to market the cipher, which is how the German Navy came into its possession in 1926. Scherbius, unaware of the kind of impact his machine had over World War II, died in an accident while travelling in a horse carriage.
Reference
- The Enigma Machine, Its Construction, Operation and Complexity
- http://www.ellsbury.com/enigma1.htm
- Wikipedia
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Scherbius
- Pictures
- http://www.nsa.gov/cch/cch00013.cfm
- Details
- Courtsey of National Security Agency