Boston Linux VIRTUAL Meeting Wednesday, May 20, 2026 - The Role of Code-Breaking in World War II

[Jerry Feldman]

When: May 20, 2026 7:00PM EDT (6:30PM for Q&A)

Topic: The Role of Code-Breaking in World War II

Presenters:  Chuck Pross

Location: Online: https://meet.jit.si/blu.org

Meeting will be recorded, but not live streamed. Recordings will be 
posted: https://blu.org/video/

Summary:

A historical retrospective of NSA code-breaking during World War II

Abstract:

        It should be no surprise that your luck at poker will
        significantly increase if you peek at your opponents cards.
        What's true in poker is also true in war.s

        Chuck Pross presents a short, non-technical talk on how
        cryptanalysis (code-breaking) helped shorten World War II by as
        much as two years, and in doing so, saved millions of lives.
        Much of code-breaking during World War II was classified until
        well into the 1980's, long after most of the history of that war
        was written, so much of it's role is not well known.

        Chuck will share a brief history of the roles of codes and
        code-breaking, then discuss the significant events of World War
        II where cryptanalysis played a pivotal role in the allies final
        victory. The discussion will end with a short discussion of how
        today codes play a vital role in our modern society.


          Bio

        Chuck graduated from Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute as an
        Electrical Engineer and did graduate work at Northeastern
        University. He worked at IBM's Advanced Development
        Laboratories, General Electric's Ordnance Division, and at
        NASA's Electronic Research Center in Cambridge, MA, before being
        recruited by the NSA to do several years of classified
        development work. He returned to NASA, where he served as
        Technical Director for the Earth Orbiting Satellite Data
        Information System and retired in 2001.


    For further information and directions please consult the BLU Web site:

http://www.blu.org

Our meeting recordings are found on the Video tab: http://blu.org/video/

-- 
Jerry Feldman<gaf.linux at gmail.com>
Boston Linux and Unixhttp://www.blu.org
PGP key id: 6F6BB6E7
PGP Key fingerprint: 0EDC 2FF5 53A6 8EED 84D1  3050 5715 B88D 6F6B B6E7