David Kahn has died. His groundbreaking book, The Codebreakers, was the first serious book I read about codebreaking, and one of the primary reasons I entered this field.
He will be missed.
EDITED TO ADD (2/4): Funeral website.
EDITED TO ADD (2/10): New York Times obituary.
Clive Robinson • February 2, 2024 6:19 PM
@ Bruce, ALL,
Re : First Book.
“His groundbreaking book, The Codebreakers was the first serious book I read about codebreaking, and one of the primary reasons I entered this field.”
David Kahn wrote in that book, how he became immersed in the subject.
It was with the gentle guidence of a mentor who had not just domain knowledge but a couple of cipher machines, one of which he gave to David so they could communicate, thus David got first hand experience at a time in his life when it realy counted.
Others of us were not as lucky I had neither book nor mentor but insatiable curiosity that rose from finding out how things worked. One such was at an early age teaching myself how to pick locks, not because I wanted to steal something, just curiosity as to why “doors were locked and importantly how”.
A word of caution for others, my insatiable curiosity covered many things and they became “hobbies” these unfortunatly I became so good at they became multiple professions of which I was at the leading edge.
Whilst this might sound a good thing, it means you loose a “free hobby” to a “constrained job”. Not always a wise thing to do.
It’s said,
“Every man needs a shed”
That is a place to be free and tinker with hobbies in a way and pace of your own chosing.
For everyone, having hobbies is a necessary part of life to maintain your sanity and even have a curious social life (not all railway enthusiasts wear anoraks nor modlers and engineers have flat caps, but some do, even the ladies 😉
Always make sure you have three hobbies –if not more– one where you are seen by others to be proficient, one where you are developing and one new where you are learning. Thus if your proficiency becomes profession, you still have something to be curious about.
Noone • February 3, 2024 10:00 AM
So few comments about such a classic is unexpected, unless this is a lesson in Chesterton, Father Brown and Lord Jones. Now, Niklaus Wirth died too a few days ago without too many obituaries either. “Service minimum” for giants. Fortunately for Kahn and Wirth, they’re immortal and will live in books as long as there will be people able to read — immortality is now limited, considering next generations.
La guerre des codes secrets (the French title of a masperized, i.e. incomplete, translation) is a book I’ve reread three or four times with the same pleasure. Time for another one, I guess.
Z.Lozinski • February 3, 2024 2:57 PM
If you ever get the chance to visit the National Cryptologic Museum (the one in what used to be the Colony Seven Motel at Fort Meade), look for the letter from William Friedman to a 17-year old David Kahn, replying to some questions he asked.
That is the duty we all have, to inspire the generations who come after us, and David Kahn carried on that tradition brilliantly in his writings.
For those who have been put off by the title, David Kahn’s “Hitler’s Spies”, is his 1970 Oxford DPhil thesis reprinted as a book, and the title might be better read as the organisation of German Military Intelligence 1933-1945. All of Clive’s comments on the long-known importance of traffic analysis, in a single unclassified source.
Roger Schlafly • February 3, 2024 10:22 PM
I remember reading The Codebreakers and thinking that the invention of computers must have had some impact in cryptography. It had, of course, but none of it was in the open literature at the time that book was written.
emily’s post • February 4, 2024 7:56 AM
@ Noone, All
died too a few days ago
This is typical in other fields e.g. mathematics. The standard is somewhere around a year, while colleagues and former students are contacted to prepare their reminiscences and an in memoriam editor is selected.
Lsuoma • February 5, 2024 11:14 AM
I remember hearing an anecdote about Wirth in my CS undergrad class. Someone asked how you pronounced his last name, and he said you can call him by name, pronounced “Veert”, or call him by value. “Worth”.
brian • February 6, 2024 1:25 AM
I think Kahn’s book was the book that contained information on the Russian one-time pad. I think I used the information to learn Turbo Pascal. My math professor asked me how I heard about the one-time pad, and I told him “The public library”. And yes, I liked Ray Bradbury too. Did I complete the project? Yes. Thank you David Kahn. And by the way, I have a copy of Wirth’s first book “Sorting and Searching”. I still think it’s cool. What can I say.
Willem • February 6, 2024 6:23 AM
@Bruce
His groundbreaking book, The Codebreakers was the first serious book I read about codebreaking, and one of the primary reasons I entered this field.
For me it was the second book on crypto I ever read. The first one was ‘Geheimschriften en Codes’ (Secret Writing and Codes) in 1968, I was 13 then. This was the Dutch translation of ‘Cloak and Cipher’ by Dan Tyler Moore and Martha Waller, published in 1962, five years before the first edition of ‘The Codebreakers’. Moore was an OSS agent during WW2. His book covers many historical systems and many crypto related stories from WW1 and WW2, including the one related to Pearl Harbor.
I remember first reading it while taking a bath, refilling hot water many times. It certainly triggered a life long interest in the field.
The thing • February 6, 2024 9:31 PM
But, muh, Applied Cryptography. How long until I write this same thing about it. Sad. 😞
Noone • February 7, 2024 6:19 PM
Can’t post this in the “Squid” section.
Very, very bad year indeed : l’ingénieux ingénieur John “Autodesk” Walker is dead.
h_t_t_p_s:/_/scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/john-walker-1949-2024/4305
The list of giants and classics is smaller and smaller.
There was an interesting “cryptography” section at his “fourmilab dot ch” Web site, among many, many other topics.
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Sidebar photo of Bruce Schneier by Joe MacInnis.
sam • February 2, 2024 5:18 PM
I too was first intrigued by Kahn’s The Codebreakers. I feel for his family; it makes me lonely to lose someone who I have only ever read. I believe that your early edition of Applied Cryptography was the follow-up to The Codebreakers. Stay healthy!