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Elizebeth Smith
Born in 1892 with a family of nine other siblings, Elizebeth Smith or Elizebeth Friedman is noted for cracking hundreds of ciphers during her career as America's first female codebreaker. Known for her logical thinking and hardy nature, she was one of the most famous codebreakers of her era and managed to uncover a Nazi spy ring which was detrimental to the Nazi war efforts. She was fond of Shakespeare and studied English literature at Hillsdale College before becoming an author and then a pioneer cryptologist.
Here are some informative videos about Elizebeth Smith and her life:
Together with her husband, William Friedman, Elizebeth was the beginning of development for codebreaking methods to be used for generations to come. She died on the 31st October 1980 in Plainfield.
William Friedman
William Friedman was born on September 24th 1891 and died on November 12th 1969. He is most famous for being a US codebreaker who specialised in the research of the Army's Signal Intelligence Service.
Here are some informative videos about William Friedman and his life:
One of Friedman's greatest achievements was his breaking of the notorious Japanese 'Purple' code during World War II. His family moved to the United States when he was just a baby and he ended up studying genetics at Cornell University before moving on to cryptology. In his later years, William Friedman also contributed to the development of a cipher machine, leading many experts to believe that he was one of the greatest codebreakers in our history. Friedman was so well-known for his work, that alongside his wife Elizebeth Smith, they helped to train up the next generation of codebreakers in and around Aurora, Illinois and were lovingly labelled the nation's 'First Cryptographic Couple'.
Ada Lovelace
Ada Lovelace was an English mathematician and writer best known for her work alongside Charles Babbage for the Analytical Machine, which was to become the world's first computer. She was born as an only child on the 10th December 1815 in Piccadilly Terrace to parents Annabella Milbanke and famous poet Lord Byron.
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| New Alan Turing £50 Note |
Here are some informative videos about Ada Lovelace and her life:
To remember her efforts, since 2009, October 13th has been annually recognised as Ada Lovelace Day.
Alan Turing
Alan Turing, now Alan Turing OBE was born on the 23rd June 1912 in London, England and died on the 7th June 1954 in Wilmslow, Cheshire. He was an English mathematician, computer scientist, and cryptanalyst. As one of the most famous codebreakers to walk this planet, since his death, The Alan Turing Institute has been opened, specialising in artificial intelligence and data sciences.
Alan Turing's early ideas led to the creation of modern computing and was able to decode encryption. Despite his great accomplishments in the field, many refused to acknowledge him due to his open homosexuality during a time where this was not accepted.
Here are some informative videos about Alan Turing and his life:
As one of the most famous faces on this list, it's not hard to see why. He took a front-centre role in breaking Nazi ciphers during World War II and has been estimated to have saved over 9 million lives as a result, as well as the possibility that we may have lost the war entirely.
Joan Clarke
Joan Clarke MBE was born on 24th June 1917 and died on 4th September 1996. She is best known as an English cryptanalyst who worked on breaking ciphers in World War II and together with Turing, saved millions of lives. Despite being a woman in a very male-centric area, her skills were respected by all and many have named her as the one who cracked the Enigma cipher at Bletchley Park.
Here are some informative videos about Joan Clarke and her life:
Tommy Flowers
Tommy Flowers was born on 22nd December 1905 and died on 28th October 1998. He was an English engineer with the British General Post Office and during World War II, created the Colossus code-breaking machine which helped to decipher Enigma. He was granted a scholarship that enabled him to study engineering at a technical college and moved on to specialise in electrical engineering and thus creating the first programmable computer and code-breaker, Colossus at Bletchley Park along with William 'Bill' Tutte.
Here are some informative videos about Tommy Flowers and his life:
He was responsible for both the design, and co-development of Colossus, which turned out to be a great success in the leading up to breaking the Enigma code and is considered to be a technical genius. Tommy Flowers is credited with creating the world's second electronic computer (after Atanasoff's ABC machine).
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