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Here is a list of past presentations at ICCH. The most recent presentation is at the top. Click on each listing to reveal more information below, including the speaker, presentation description and to access recordings.
Note: Effort has been made to ensure that the information on each presentation is accurate and up-to-date. To suggest a correction please contact the ICCH webmaster Patrick Hayes at .
The era of cipher machines began around 1920, when the Enigma and numerous other designs started to replace manual crypto systems. However, at least 25 cipher machine designs were developed long before the Enigma came to existence. The German polymath Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz designed a fairly complex cipher machine as early as in the 17th century. The 1800’s and early 1900’s saw encrypting typewriters, online telegraphy encryption devices, and cipher machine prototypes intended for military use. None of these constructions gained wide acceptance. Many of them only existed as patents or blueprints. However, some of these early cipher machines influenced later developments and thus paved the way for the Enigma and its contemporaries. This presentation gives an overview on the most important cipher machines that were invented before the era of cipher machines had even begun.
January 9, 2021
Here is a list of past presentations at ICCH. The most recent presentation is at the top. Click on each listing to reveal more information below, including the speaker, as well as the presentation date and description. Presentation recordings are available separately, in the ICCH Portal.
To view upcoming ICCH presentations, click here.
Note: Effort has been made to ensure that the information on each presentation is accurate and up-to-date. To suggest a correction please contact the ICCH webmaster Patrick Hayes at info@cryptologichistory.org.
The era of cipher machines began around 1920, when the Enigma and numerous other designs started to replace manual crypto systems. However, at least 25 cipher machine designs were developed long before the Enigma came to existence. The German polymath Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz designed a fairly complex cipher machine as early as in the 17th century. The 1800’s and early 1900’s saw encrypting typewriters, online telegraphy encryption devices, and cipher machine prototypes intended for military use. None of these constructions gained wide acceptance. Many of them only existed as patents or blueprints. However, some of these early cipher machines influenced later developments and thus paved the way for the Enigma and its contemporaries. This presentation gives an overview on the most important cipher machines that were invented before the era of cipher machines had even begun.
January 9, 2021
