Alfred Dillwyn 'Dilly' Knox (23 July 1884 – 27 February 1943) was a British codebreaker and classical scholar at King's College, Cambridge. He was a member of the World War I Room 40 codebreaking unit, and later at Bletchley Park he worked on the cryptanalysis of the Enigma machine until his death in 1943. July 23 is the 204th day (205th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 161 days remaining. ... 1884 (MDCCCLXXXIV) is a leap year starting on Tuesday (click on link to calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Thursday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... February 27 is the 58th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1943 (MCMXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1943 calendar). ... Cryptanalysis (from the Greek kryptós, hidden, and analýein, to loosen or to untie) is the study of methods for obtaining the meaning of encrypted information without access to the secret information which is normally required to do so. ... Classics, particularly within the Western University tradition, when used as a singular noun, means the study of the language, literature, history, art, and other aspects of Greek and Roman culture during the time frame known as classical antiquity. ... Full name The Kings College of Our Lady and St Nicholas in Cambridge Motto Veritas Et Utilitas Truth and usefulness Named after Henry VI Previous names - Established 1441 Sister College(s) New College Provost Prof. ... Combatants Allies: Serbia, Russia, France, Romania, Belgium, British Empire, United States, Italy, and others Central Powers: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, Ottoman Empire Casualties Military dead: 5 million Civilian deaths: 3 million Total of dead: 8 million Military dead: 4 million Civilian deaths: 3 million Total dead: 7 million The First... In the history of cryptography, Room 40 (formally I.D. 25) was the room in the Admiralty which was the first location of the British cryptography effort during World War I. It was formed shortly after the start of the war in October 1914, as a result of codebooks and... During World War II, British and American cryptographers at Bletchley Park broke a large number of Axis codes and ciphers, including the German Enigma machine. ... A three-rotor German military Enigma machine showing, from bottom to top, the plugboard, the keyboard, the lamps and the finger-wheels of the rotors emerging from the inner lid (version with labels). ...

Family and education

Dillwyn Knox, the fourth of six children^[1], was the son of Edmund Arbuthnott Knox, and the brother of Ronald Knox, E. V. Knox and Wilfred. L. Knox^[1]. Ronald Arbuthnott Knox (1888-1957) was an English theologian and crime writer. ... E. V. Knox (Edmund George Valpy Knox, May 10, 1881 - January 2, 1971), was a poet and satirist who wrote under the pseudonym Evoe. ...

Dillwyn, known as "Dilly", Knox was educated at Summer Fields School, Oxford, and then Eton College^[1]. He studied classics at Kings College, Cambridge, and was elected a fellow in 1909^[1]. The Kings College of Our Lady of Eton beside Windsor, commonly known as Eton College or just Eton, is a prestigious and internationally known Public School for boys. ... There are a number of institutions known as Kings College: Kings College, Cambridge, a constituent college of the University of Cambridge Kings College London, a college of the University of London Kings College School, a school originally founded to feed the London university college. ... Map of the Cambridgeshire area (1904) The city of Cambridge is an old English university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire. ... 1909 (MCMIX) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ...

Codebreaking

To break non-steckered Enigma machines, Knox used a system known as rodding, a linguistic as opposed to mathematical way of breaking codes. This technique was applied successfully against the Enigma used by the Italian Navy and the German Abwehr. A three-rotor German military Enigma machine showing, from bottom to top, the plugboard, the keyboard, the lamps and the finger-wheels of the rotors emerging from the inner lid (version with labels). ... The Italian Regia Marina (literally: Royal Navy) dates from the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861 after Italian unification. ... The Abwehr was a German intelligence organization from 1921 to 1944. ...

Knox was one of the British participants in the July 25, 1939, Polish-French-British conference held at the Polish Cipher Bureau facility at Pyry, south of Warsaw, Poland, in which the Poles disclosed to their French and British allies their achievements in Enigma decryption. Knox was chagrined — but grateful — to learn how simple was the solution of the Enigma's entry ring (standard alphabetical order). After the meeting, he sent the Polish cryptologists a very gracious note in Polish, on official British government stationery, thanking them for their assistance, and enclosing a beautiful scarf featuring a picture of a Derby race, and a set of paper batons that he had presumably used in his attempts to break the German Enigma. July 25 is the 206th day (207th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar, with 159 days remaining. ... 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Biuro Szyfrów ( (?), Polish for Cipher Bureau) was the Polish agency concerned with cryptology between World Wars I and II. The Bureau enjoyed notable successes against Soviet cryptography during the Polish-Soviet War, helping to preserve Polands independence. ... Pyry ( (?)) is one of the southernmost neighborhoods of the city of Warsaw. ... Warsaw (Polish: , (?), in full The Capital City of Warsaw, Polish: Miasto StoÅ‚eczne Warszawa) is the capital of Poland and its largest city. ... A three-rotor German military Enigma machine showing, from bottom to top, the plugboard, the keyboard, the lamps and the finger-wheels of the rotors emerging from the inner lid (version with labels). ... This article is about algorithms for encryption and decryption. ... This article needs cleanup. ...

References

1. ^ ^a b c d Mavis Batey, Knox, (Alfred) Dillwyn (1884–1943), in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 2004

Further reading

• Penelope Fitzgerald, The Knox Brothers, New York: Coward, McCann, & Geoghegan, 1977; revised edition, Washington, DC: Counterpoint, 2000.
• David Kahn, Seizing the Enigma, 1991, pp. 25-26, 84-85
• Mavis Batey, "Marian and Dilly", pp. 67-74 in Marian Rejewski 1905–1980, Living with the Enigma Secret, 2005.
• Władysław Kozaczuk, Enigma: How the German Machine Cipher Was Broken, and How It Was Read by the Allies in World War Two, edited and translated by Christopher Kasparek, Frederick, MD, University Publications of America, 1984.

Penelope Fitzgerald (17 December 1916 - 28 April 2000) was an English poet, novelist and biographer. ... David Kahn is a US historian, journalist and writer. ... Władysław Kozaczuk (1923 — 2003, Warsaw, Poland) was a Polish historian who published a dozen books, several of them in multiple editions. ... Christopher Kasparek (born 1945) is a writer and a translator from Polish into English. ...

External links

• Knox in the history of Bletchley Park