What’s In A Name?

It’s where it all started…

Marconi – The First Wireless Telegraphy Transmission

The 21st Century military Communications and Information Systems (CIS) and the cryptographic equipment that encrypts and secures our classified and sensitive information all started with Guglielmo Marconi (1874 – 1937), who made his first demonstration using a wireless telegraphy system for the British government in July of 1896. ‘Radiotelegraphy’ is now the modern term used for wireless telegraphy, which is radio communications by means of Morse Code transmitted by a Morse Key.

Marconi made numerous demonstrations and experiments culminating in his transatlantic Morse Code transmission using a Morse Key from Poldhu in Cornwall, England and Clifden in Co. Galway, Ireland and soon made the announcement that the Morse Code letter ‘S’ was received at Signal Hill in St John’s, Newfoundland on 12 December 1901, a distance of about 2,200 miles.

Titanic – The First S O S Transmission

Morse Code transmitted using a Morse Key became the standard method of long range communications and became synonymous in the tragic sinking of the Titanic in 1912, she hit an iceberg and was the first ship to send a “S O S” Morse Code telegraphy signal. This was transmitted using a Morse Key by Jack Phillips, which was received by a ship nearby, but it was later learned that another ship was closer, which resulted in the Radio Act of 1912 requiring two operators on all ships.

World War II – Enigma

Radiotelegraphy was vital during World War II, especially in carrying messages between the warships and the naval bases of the belligerents. Long-range ship-to-ship communication was by radiotelegraphy, using encrypted messages, because the voice radio systems on ships then were quite limited in both their range and their security.

Radiotelegraphy was also extensively used by warplanes, especially by long-range patrol planes that were sent out by those navies to scout for enemy warships, cargo ships, and troop ships. The advent of modern cryptography is illustrated by the use of the ‘Enigma’ machine by the German military during WW II to encrypt their radiotelegraphy transmissions.

The ‘Enigma’ was developed by a German engineer called Arthur Scherbius. It was aimed at enticing commercial companies to code their transmissions to keep their commercial interest secure. In 1923 he established Chiffriermaschinen Aktiengesellschaft (Cipher Machines Corporation) in Berlin to manufacture the Enigma machine. Soon afterwards the German military were producing their own versions and during WW II, Morse Code was encrypted using the Enigma machine and then transmitted using a Morse Key. The basic machine became more complicated as German code experts added reconfigurable plugs with electronic circuits.

In 1931 the British and her allies were provided with information on the Enigma machine, based upon photographed Engima manuals provided by a German spy to French spymaster. The cryptanalysts were unable to make sense of the Enigma code. In 1933 they provided the information to the Polish Cipher Bureau who manufactured an Enigma machine and read German messages between 1933 and 1938.

Alan Turing – The First Computer & Enigma Code Breaker

At the outbreak of WW II the polish decided to assist the British and shared their secrets with the Britain’s Government Code & Cipher School (GC&CS) the Top Secret organisation at Bletchley Park, Buckinghamshire. The very best mathematicians and problem solvers were recruited, among them was Alan Turing. A bank of early computers called ‘Bombes’ which were constructed to work out the Engima’s huge number of settings.

The code was finally cracked by using a computer built by Alan Turing. Now understood as being the first computer and the advent of the computer age and the cyber security needed to protect it, all of which can be traced back to Guglielmo Marconi’s first Morse Code transatlantic transmission in 1901 using a Morse Key.