Codes Ciphers And Cartography

Discusses military uses of math including navigation, cryptography, ballistics, logistics, and more.

Glimpses of cartography and cryptology for young readers.

Dive into the secret history of . . . secrets! Cryptology is the art and science of secret communication, and its purpose is to protect precious information and keep people safe. Learn about its building blocks: ciphers, codes, and keys. People have wanted to hide messages and important information for millennia. Read how history's coolest codes and ciphers have progressed from belts and sticks to rotating disks and supercomputers. Use your cryptology skills to design your own secret cipher. And learn about the smart people who built and broke the strongest secret systems.

This intriguing and revelatory history of cryptology ranges from the early days of code-making and code-breaking in ancient Egypt, Sparta, and Rome to the present day when it has slipped beyond the tight control of governments and now affects all our lives whenever we use our cell phones or connect to the internet. Subjects covered here include Mary Queen of Scots' cryptic messages when she was plotting against her cousin Elizabeth I; the codes used by George Washington for military and political purposes; and code-breaking during World Wars I and II, including the Enigma Machine. Those who invent codes and those who break them are fascinating characters. This is their story.

Have you ever wished that you could do something heroic to help your country? When Alan Turing was a boy, he was fascinated by math and science. Later, Turing's math skills would help Great Britain win World War II. Turing's parents and teachers thought he'd be better off dropping math in favor of more gentlemanly studies, such as literature and Latin. But he stuck with it, and by the start of World War II in 1939, he was ready to take on the biggest challenge his country faced: Nazi Germany. Turing put his advanced knowledge of math to work decoding secret German messages. His ideas not only helped Great Britain turn the tide of the war--they provided the foundation upon which much of modern computing and artificial intelligence is based.

"From Pearl Harbor to Bletchley Park, readers will learn the true stories of the brave men and women who worked behind the scenes to crack codes and gain information during World War II"--