[inforoots] Lorenz/Colossus, was ENIGMA MACHINE TO BE REACTIVATED AFTER 60 YEARS

[Van Snyder]

Here's an article from Michael Nadeau's <news at computercollector.com>
computer collector newsletter:

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As the world remembers the 60th anniversary of V-E Day, it's fitting 
that we in the computer collecting hobby remember the Enigma machines.  
Made infamous by the Axis countries, the electromechanical encryption 
devices are still a vital part of the history of secure computing.

Many people don't realize, however, that German scientists did not 
actually invent rotor-based encryption machines.  Who did invent them 
has been controversial, but historians in recent years said two Dutch 
Navy officers with backgrounds in torpedo design - Theo A. van Hengel 
and R.P.C. Spengler - were the true co-inventors.  They began working 
on a device that likely became the Enigma Model A "in the first few 
months of 1915" and had it working "a few months later", or just about 
this time of year, 90 years ago.  For more, visit a university library 
and find Cryptologia, vol. 27, no. 1, Jan. 2003, p. 73: "The Dutch 
Invention of the Rotor Machine, 1915-1923" by Karl de Leeuw.

There is also a new book out, "The German Enigma Cipher Machine: 
Beginnings, Success, and Ultimate Failure", a collection of essays and 
technical papers.  The publisher's description: "You get a 
comprehensive view of the Enigma machine’s development, uses, role in 
WWII Allied intelligence, and cryptanalysis."  For more or to order, 
see http://tinyurl.com/b9vyk -- we've request a review copy for CCN.  
(The book is edited by U.S. Military Academy Prof. Brian Winkel, who 
isn't a collector, but who said that computers used in his career 
included an Ohio Scientific 8-inch disk CPM machine with 8088 and 6502 
chips, an Osborne I, an Apple II, a TRS-80, an IBM-PC, and an IBM-XT.)

What if you want an Enigma for tinkering?  Unless you have several 
thousand extra dollars, or a particularly lucky day on eBay, you can't 
get one.  You can see real ones in museums, of course.  Instead, why 
not obtain a replica kit?  There is an electric replica project at 
http://www.enigma-replica.com/index1.html and a PBS "how it works" 
article at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/decoding/enigma.html ... or 
just visit http://mckoss.com/Crypto/enigma.htm to download a free 
paper Engima kit!  Mike Koss, the designer, will also send you a 
detailed instruction booklet for $2, well worth it in my opinion.  
Still another excellent resource is the 1974 book "The Ultra Secret" 
by F.W. Winterbotham (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra).

(Next week, look for some history of other World War II-era computing 
machines, and more...)

Evan Koblentz
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-- 
Van Snyder                    |  What fraction of Americans believe 
Van.Snyder at jpl.nasa.gov       |  Wrestling is real and NASA is fake?
Any alleged opinions are my own and have not been approved or disapproved
by JPL, CalTech, NASA, Frederick Gregory, George Bush, or anybody else.