The Code Book
Encyclopedia
This is about a book called The Code Book, for other uses see Codebook (disambiguation)
The Code Book: The Evolution of Secrecy from Mary, Queen of Scots to Quantum Cryptography is a book written by Simon Singh
and published in 1999 by Doubleday of New York; ISBN 0-385-49531-5.
The Code Book covers a diverse set of historical topics including the Man in the Iron Mask
, Arabic cryptography
, Charles Babbage
, the mechanisation of cryptography, the Enigma Machine
, and the decipherment of Linear B
and other ancient writing systems. Later sections cover the development of public key cryptography and some of this material is based on interviews with the participants, including those who worked in secret at GCHQ. The book concludes with a discussion of PGP
, quantum computing
, and quantum cryptography
. The book announced a "Cipher Challenge" of a series of ten progressively harder codes with a cash prize of £10,000. The contest has since been completed. The book is not footnoted, but does have a "Further Reading" section at the end which is organized by chapter.
Codebook (disambiguation)
A codebook is a type of document used for gathering and storing codes.Codebook may also refer to:*CodeBook, software used in building information modeling* Codebook algorithm, an algorithm used in cryptography*The Code Book, a 1999 book by Simon Singh...
The Code Book: The Evolution of Secrecy from Mary, Queen of Scots to Quantum Cryptography is a book written by Simon Singh
Simon Singh
Simon Lehna Singh, MBE is a British author who has specialised in writing about mathematical and scientific topics in an accessible manner....
and published in 1999 by Doubleday of New York; ISBN 0-385-49531-5.
The Code Book covers a diverse set of historical topics including the Man in the Iron Mask
Man in the Iron Mask
The Man in the Iron Mask is a name given to a prisoner arrested as Eustache Dauger in 1669 or 1670, and held in a number of jails, including the Bastille and the Fortress of Pignerol . He was held in the custody of the same jailer, Bénigne Dauvergne de Saint-Mars, for a period of 34 years...
, Arabic cryptography
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
, Charles Babbage
Charles Babbage
Charles Babbage, FRS was an English mathematician, philosopher, inventor and mechanical engineer who originated the concept of a programmable computer...
, the mechanisation of cryptography, the Enigma Machine
Enigma machine
An Enigma machine is any of a family of related electro-mechanical rotor cipher machines used for the encryption and decryption of secret messages. Enigma was invented by German engineer Arthur Scherbius at the end of World War I...
, and the decipherment of Linear B
Linear B
Linear B is a syllabic script that was used for writing Mycenaean Greek, an early form of Greek. It pre-dated the Greek alphabet by several centuries and seems to have died out with the fall of Mycenaean civilization...
and other ancient writing systems. Later sections cover the development of public key cryptography and some of this material is based on interviews with the participants, including those who worked in secret at GCHQ. The book concludes with a discussion of PGP
Pretty Good Privacy
Pretty Good Privacy is a data encryption and decryption computer program that provides cryptographic privacy and authentication for data communication. PGP is often used for signing, encrypting and decrypting texts, E-mails, files, directories and whole disk partitions to increase the security...
, quantum computing
Quantum computer
A quantum computer is a device for computation that makes direct use of quantum mechanical phenomena, such as superposition and entanglement, to perform operations on data. Quantum computers are different from traditional computers based on transistors...
, and quantum cryptography
Quantum cryptography
Quantum key distribution uses quantum mechanics to guarantee secure communication. It enables two parties to produce a shared random secret key known only to them, which can then be used to encrypt and decrypt messages...
. The book announced a "Cipher Challenge" of a series of ten progressively harder codes with a cash prize of £10,000. The contest has since been completed. The book is not footnoted, but does have a "Further Reading" section at the end which is organized by chapter.