The Lost Story of Alan Turing's "Delilah" Project
Alan Turing's "Delilah" project developed a portable voice-encryption system during WWII, resulting in a compact machine. Recent auctions of his papers highlight the project's historical significance and engineering contributions.
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Alan Turing's secret "Delilah" project, recently highlighted by the auction of a collection of his wartime papers, reveals his innovative work in voice encryption during World War II. The project, which Turing led from 1943 to 1945, aimed to create a portable voice-encryption system that could facilitate secure military communication. Unlike existing systems that focused on encrypting text, Delilah was designed to encrypt spoken words, addressing a significant military need for secure voice communication. The project culminated in a compact machine, weighing only 39 kg, which was significantly smaller than the room-sized systems like Bell Labs' SIGSALY. Turing's collaboration with his assistant Donald Bayley was crucial, as they developed a prototype that operated on rigorous cryptographic principles. The recently auctioned "Bayley papers" contain Turing's handwritten notes and technical details about Delilah, shedding light on his transition from theoretical mathematics to practical engineering. The British government has recognized the historical significance of these documents, emphasizing their importance to the national narrative. Turing's work on Delilah not only showcases his engineering prowess but also marks a pivotal moment in the evolution of secure communication technologies.
- Alan Turing's "Delilah" project focused on creating a portable voice-encryption system during WWII.
- The project resulted in a compact machine that was significantly smaller than existing encryption systems.
- Turing collaborated closely with assistant Donald Bayley, who documented their work.
- The recent auction of Turing's papers has highlighted the historical significance of his engineering contributions.
- The British government has intervened to prevent the export of these important documents.
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10 commentsI've seen multivibrators as frequency dividers in the repair work I've done. The clever thing here would be in the initialization, and synchronization at the receive end. I'd imagine that wheel has to be spun up to some fraction of 4000 rotations/second and uses photodiodes or perhaps just contact, to generate the starting pulses.
This reminds me: are there even any good scans of the Portsmouth Papers that Keynes bought? Or is this stuff still just buried in various museum archives, seen only by certified friends of the museum's director?
That seems curious -- surely the military would have been interested in a finished portable voice encryption system, even after the war?
What is your opinion on visiting Bletchley Park? Is it worth it? Or is it more oriented to kids and whatnot?
Alan Turing – The Delilah Project - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38862147 - Jan 2024 (7 comments)
> Bell Labs’ pioneering SIGSALY speech-encryption system was constructed in New York City, under a U.S. Army contract, during 1942 and 1943. It was gigantic, weighing over 50 thousand kilograms and filling a room. Turing was familiar with SIGSALY and wanted to miniaturize speech encryption.
Well, yes; given that he _helped design it_ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SIGSALY#Development) he probably would be familiar with it.
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