Just in case you thought my recent list of upcoming talks was too UK-centric, here’s a nice one from the US…
A while back on Cipher Mysteries, I mentioned the 200-year old challenge ciphertext sent to Thomas Jefferson by UPenn maths professor Robert Patterson. But in a PhysOrg.com article (linked from the Daily Grail), there’s news of a lecture being given at the University of Oregon by Lawren Smithline (the person who finally cracked the transposition cipher) at 4pm Tuesday 26th January 2010, in Room 100 of Willamette Hall, 1371 E. 13th Ave., Eugene OR. Free admission.
(As always, please drop me a line if you happen to go along.)
Hi Nick! I asked Jim Reeds whether he knew Smithline, since they work at the same place, and he does. Smithline told him the very hardest part of breaking the Jefferson ciphertext was transcribing it. 🙂
Nice little story, thanks Dennis! 🙂