Polish mathematician and cryptologist, famous for his ground-breaking, long-running work in decrypting German Enigma ciphers. His achievements jump-started British reading of Enigma in World War II ("Ultra"), and the intelligence so gained may have substantially altered the course of the war.He fundamentally advanced cryptanalysis by applying pure mathematics - permutation theory - to break the Enigma cipher for the first time. Previous methods had exploited patterns and statistics in natural language texts such as letter-frequency analysis. Rejewski's mathematical techniques, combined with material supplied by French military intelligence, enabled him to develop methods of breaking the periodic as well as individual keys used in encrypting messages on the Enigma machine. Rejewski devised a mathematical theorem that wartime Bletchley Park luminary, Professor I. J. Good, has described as "the mathematical theorem that won World War II."Rejewski died in 1980 in Warsaw and was buried at the Powazki Cemetery, one of Poland's pantheons of the great and valiant.The Polish Mathematical Society has honored him with a special medal.
Polish mathematician and cryptologist, famous for his ground-breaking, long-running work in decrypting German Enigma ciphers. His achievements jump-started British reading of Enigma in World War II ("Ultra"), and the intelligence so gained may have substantially altered the course of the war.He fundamentally advanced cryptanalysis by applying pure mathematics - permutation theory - to break the Enigma cipher for the first time. Previous methods had exploited patterns and statistics in natural language texts such as letter-frequency analysis. Rejewski's mathematical techniques, combined with material supplied by French military intelligence, enabled him to develop methods of breaking the periodic as well as individual keys used in encrypting messages on the Enigma machine. Rejewski devised a mathematical theorem that wartime Bletchley Park luminary, Professor I. J. Good, has described as "the mathematical theorem that won World War II."Rejewski died in 1980 in Warsaw and was buried at the Powazki Cemetery, one of Poland's pantheons of the great and valiant.The Polish Mathematical Society has honored him with a special medal.
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Explore more
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
