Cryptologic History

"On This Date in Cryptologic History" Calendar

1846: Étienne Bazeries Birth Date

Friday, August 21, 2026

21 August 1846: Birthday of Étienne Bazeries, developer of the "cylindrical cipher device." His "Bazeries Cylinder" was an improved version of the Jefferson Cipher. It was later refined into the U.S. Army M-94 cipher device. Bazeries was referred to by historian David Kahn as "the great pragmatist of cryptology. His theoretical contributions are negligible, but he was one of the greatest natural cryptanalysts the science has seen." (Kahn, "The Codebreakers, 1996)

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