Who invented the Enigma coding machine in 1919 that was used by the German army in WWI?

Answer 1

The man's name was Schurbius (spelling?), and he was a German engineer. If I remember correctly, he tried to sell it to the German government for military use, and they were not interested, so he got himself a partner, and a patent, and went into business. The machine was actually only used for businesses at first, and was NOT used during WWI, but rather WWII. It was also used in other countries, but its fame came from being the "unbreakable" encryption machine used by the Nazis. I only remember his last name because I knew a geeky kid in college with the same last name, and it struck me when I read a book about it, but I am afraid I don't know his first name.

Answer 2

Arthur Scherbius (20 October 1878–13 May 1929) was a German electrical engineer who patented an invention for a mechanical cipher machine, later sold as the Enigma machine.

Answer 3

Hugo Koch (works for Radio Trivia)

1940: Germans get Enigma

On this day in 1940, the Germans set up two-way radio communication in their newly occupied French territory, employing their most sophisticated coding machine, Enigma, to transmit information.

The Germans set up radio stations in Brest and the port town of Cherbourg. Signals would be transmitted to German bombers so as to direct them to targets in Britain. The Enigma coding machine, invented in 1919 by Hugo Koch, a Dutchman, looked like a typewriter and was originally employed for business purposes. The German army adapted the machine for wartime use and considered its encoding system unbreakable. They were wrong. The Brits had broken the code as early as the German invasion of Poland and had intercepted virtually every message sent through the system. Britain nicknamed the intercepted messages Ultra.

Answer 4

Arthur Scherbius.

The Enigma code machine was first patented as a commercial encryption device in 1918 by a German inventor named Arthur Scherbius, but wasn't sold commercially until 1923. German banks and railways were among its first customers, but the German military was quick to see its potential and modified it for military use. They added a plugboard (similar to an old-fashioned telephone switchboard) which allowed an operator to plug pairs of letters together in an absolutely astronomical number of combinations. Klaus Barbie, Joseph Goebbels and Albert Speer were all significant figures in World War II. Scherbius died in 1929.

Answer 5

Edward Hugh Hebern (April 23, 1869 – February 10, 1952) was an early inventor of rotor machines, devices for encryption. He got a patent in 1919, shortly before three others patented (in other countries) much the same thing. They were Arthur Scherbius in Germany, Hugo Koch in the Netherlands, and A Damm in Sweden. Hebern started a company to market the Hebern rotor machine; one of his employees was Agnes Meyer, who left the Navy in Washington DC to work for Hebern in California. Scherbius designed the Enigma, Koch sold his patent to Scherbius a few years later, and Damm's company — taken over by Boris Hagelin after his death — moved to Switzerland and is still in existence, as Crypto AG.

Hebern's implementation of his idea was less secure than he believed, for William F. Friedman found at least one method of attack when it was offered to the US Government. Hebern's company did not prosper, his promotional efforts for it were questioned, and he was tried and convicted for fraud. Agnes Meyer returned to Washington to work for the Navy.

With Frank Rowlett, Friedman went on to design a much more secure, and much more complex, rotor machine for the US Army. It eventually became the SIGABA.

Hebern was born in Streator, Illinois on April 23, 1869. He was brought up in the Soldiers' Orphan Home in Bloomington. At the age of 14, he lived and worked on a farm near Odin. Later, he became a carpenter. He died of a heart attack on 10 February, 1952.

Answer 6

The British

Answer 7

Hugh Hebern

Answer 8

I don't know, but it was Alan Turing who cracked the Enigma code during WWII.

Answer 9

Hugo Koch for O-Rock trivia

Answer 10

World War II not the first, the second