Machine attacks on JN-25 during WWII
Channel: David Joyner
Date: 2012-09-06

Prof. Chris Christensen, Dept of Mathematics, Northern Kentucky Univ. gave a talk on Machine Attack on JN-25 on August 27, 2012. His 45 minute talk was a mixture of WWII history and mathematics. Here is a summary:
As World War II loomed, the Navy recruited mathematicians from college faculties to serve as codebreakers. In 1943 and 1944 these mathematician/codebreakers designed a series of machines called Copperheads and a machine called Mamba to attack the primary Japanese naval cipher JN-25. We will examine the codebreaking techniques designed by these mathematicians and the machines that were designed to implement them.
A related article should appear in Cryptologia in about a year or so.
Video and editing using FCPX by me.