Ciphers | smithsonianmag.comhttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/rss/tag/ciphers/RSS feed for CiphersenFri, 10 Feb 2023 20:06:38 +0000Code Breakers Discover—and Decipher—Long-Lost Letters by Mary, Queen of Scotshttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/codebreakers-discoverand-decipherlong-lost-letters-by-mary-queen-of-scots-180981613/The deposed monarch wrote the 57 encrypted messages during her captivity in EnglandFri, 10 Feb 2023 20:06:38 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/codebreakers-discoverand-decipherlong-lost-letters-by-mary-queen-of-scots-180981613/Two Hundred Years Ago, the Rosetta Stone Unlocked the Secrets of Ancient Egypthttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/rosetta-stone-hieroglyphs-champollion-decipherment-egypt-180980834/French scholar Jean-François Champollion announced his decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphs on September 27, 1822Tue, 27 Sep 2022 11:15:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/rosetta-stone-hieroglyphs-champollion-decipherment-egypt-180980834/Have Scholars Finally Identified the Mysterious Somerton Man?https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/have-scholars-finally-identified-the-mysterious-somerton-man-180980540/New DNA analysis suggests a body found on a beach in Australia in 1948 belongs to Carl Webb, an electrical engineer from MelbourneMon, 08 Aug 2022 19:30:20 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/have-scholars-finally-identified-the-mysterious-somerton-man-180980540/The Secrets of a Long-Overlooked Cipher Linked to Catherine of Aragonhttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/the-secrets-of-a-long-overlooked-cipher-linked-to-catherine-of-aragon-180980400/Henry VIII's first wife may have commissioned the design as an act of defiance during the Tudor king's attempt to divorce herTue, 12 Jul 2022 10:30:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/the-secrets-of-a-long-overlooked-cipher-linked-to-catherine-of-aragon-180980400/Archaeologists Discover—and Start to Decode—Rare Medieval Runeshttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/newly-discovered-norwegian-runes-might-contain-a-medieval-joke-180979381/One of the newly unearthed objects, an inscribed bone, is the first of its kind found in Oslo in decadesWed, 12 Jan 2022 19:58:41 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/newly-discovered-norwegian-runes-might-contain-a-medieval-joke-180979381/The Secret Codes of Lady Wroth, the First Female English Novelisthttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/secret-codes-lady-wroth-first-female-english-novelist-180978365/The Renaissance noblewoman is little known today, but in her time she was a notorious celebrityThu, 19 Aug 2021 15:00:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/secret-codes-lady-wroth-first-female-english-novelist-180978365/Divers Discover Nazi Enigma Machine Thrown Into the Baltic Sea During WWIIhttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/divers-discover-rare-nazi-enigma-cipher-machine-wwii-180976469/German forces used the device—likely cast into the water to avoid falling into Allied hands—to encode military messagesMon, 07 Dec 2020 19:36:22 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/divers-discover-rare-nazi-enigma-cipher-machine-wwii-180976469/The Women Code Breakers Who Unmasked Soviet Spieshttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/women-code-breakers-unmasked-soviet-spies-180970034/At the height of the Cold War, America’s most secretive counterespionage effort set out to crack unbreakable ciphersTue, 21 Aug 2018 15:00:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/women-code-breakers-unmasked-soviet-spies-180970034/How to Cipher Like a Soviethttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-cipher-like-soviet-180970032/See if you can figure out how the American code-breakers unraveled the complexities of the Russian codebookTue, 21 Aug 2018 15:00:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-cipher-like-soviet-180970032/