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1932: Boris Hagelin receives first cryptographic patent.

Thursday, February 23, 2023

23 February 1932: Boris Hagelin, in Sweden, received his first cryptographic patent.

Excerpt from Wikipedia:

"In 1925, Hagelin took over the firm, Aktiebolaget Cryptograph, later reorganising it as Aktiebolaget Cryptoteknik in 1932. His machines competed with Scherbius' Enigma machines, but sold rather better.

At the beginning of World War II, Hagelin moved from Sweden to Switzerland, all the way across Germany and through Berlin to Genoa, carrying the design documents for the company's latest machine, and re-established his company there (it still operates as Crypto AG in Zug). That design was small, cheap and moderately secure, and he convinced the US military to adopt it. Many tens of thousands of them were made, and Hagelin became quite wealthy as a result. Historian David Kahn has suggested that Hagelin was the only cypher-machine maker who ever became a millionaire."

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