Enigma

A colleague and I visited the RSA Conference in San Francisco today. A couple of booths had Enigma machines on display: the one assigned to the NSA (No Such Agency) and the booth of a firm I work with and value very highly - Cryptography Research.

Here's a picture of me with one of the Enigmas:

Breaking the Nazi Enigma was one of World War II's most important developments. For a history of cryptography, including a chapter on Enigma, get a copy of The Code Book by Simon Singh. Don't confuse it with another book by Singh, Fermat's Enigma - it has nothing to do with this Enigma.