Charles J. Mendelsohn

Charles Jastrow Mendelsohn (born December 8, 1880 in Wilmington , North Carolina , † September 27, 1939 in New York ) was an American philologist, historian and one of the most important scientists in the history of cryptology .

His father was Samuel Mendelsohn , rabbi of the Temple of Israel in Wilmington, who also authored The Criminal Law of the Ancient Hebrews . The mother's name was Esther Jastrow. Mendelsohn studied at the University of Pennsylvania , where he received his Ph. D. in 1904 for a literary work on the Roman author Plautus . After graduating, he taught Greek at the City College of New York .

After the outbreak of World War I , he moved to the Ministry of Post and later to the military intelligence service, where he worked in the cryptanalysis department. He later presented his findings from this in his Studies in German Diplomatic Codes Employed During the World War .

After the war he taught again at the City College of New York, now history. At the same time, he continued to work in the field of cryptanalysis, on which he published various scientific papers, including together with William Friedman on the Zimmermann Telegram .

He built up the largest collection of antiquarian literature on cryptology, which is now kept in the Van Pelt-Dietrich Library of the University of Pennsylvania .

Publications

• with William Friedman: The Zimmermann Telegram of January 16, 1917 and its Cryptographic Background . War Department, Office of the Chief Signal Officer, Washington, GPO, 1938
• Blaise de Vigenere and the 'Chiffre carre' . In: Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 82, 1940, pp. 103-129 JSTOR .

literature

• Friedrich L. Bauer : Deciphered Secrets. Methods and maxims of cryptology. 3rd, revised and expanded edition. Springer, Berlin et al. 2000, ISBN 3-540-67931-6 .

Web links

• David Cahn: Charles J. Mendelsohn and why i envy him ( Memento from July 12, 2014 in the Internet Archive )