Matt BlazeJulia Parsons, who worked on deciphering German Enigma traffic as a US Navy cryptologist in WW II, has died at the age of 104.
Interesting tidbit from her obit: She didn't find out that her war work had been declassified (25 years earlier) until she visited, as a tourist, the NSA museum in 1997 and saw Enigma machines on open display.
Also: outlived Henry Kissinger.
Robin Bobcat@mattblaze that's the best part.
Emelia/Emi@mattblaze Fun fact about that museum: the people that run it are some of the only NSA employees that can openly say they work for the NSA.
Last time I went they also had an enigma machine set up for use by visitors. Takes a lot more force to push the keys than I expected.
Mark Eichin@becomethewaifu @mattblaze Yeah, I got to use it (encoded a short message on one, then decoded it on the other) when I visited last year - apparently it's one of their bigger maintenance challenges, but they really feel it's worth having it out and operating (I certainly agree)
Simple Nomad@mattblaze I got to play on one of those Enigma machines at Black Hat in 2000 (I think), I ran into lunch speaker Hal McConnell in a bar. Retired NSA and curator of the NSA museum he had an Enigma with him in a case. Great conversation and lovely gentleman. He did say the funniest thing was how former NSA personnel would visit and be shocked by the Enigmas - either for the same reason as Parsons or just surprised they were let out of the building. He passed in 2023 in his late 80s.
@mattblaze
Apparently there was a command that went out among German communications, that they needed to stop using dirty words for the codes, because young girls were doing the codebreaking on the other side...
...and they kept guessing the codes as a result.
Apparently there was a command that went out among German communications, that they needed to stop using dirty words for the codes, because young girls were doing the codebreaking on the other side...
...and they kept guessing the codes as a result.
gdtrfb@mattblaze Tip of the Cub cap to Julia Parsons.
Medea Vanamonde🏳️⚧️ ♀One of the Hot Computers .
Hot on all levels
Thee Mighty Peculia 🍄@MishaVanMollusq @mattblaze Brains are def sexy but there’s also a hint of Clara Bow about her.
reindeerphoto@mattblaze
So now the orange 🤡 can erase her from the archives.
I hope there will be someone left to remember the female, PoC, trans and gay war heros.
#fascist #trump
So now the orange 🤡 can erase her from the archives.
I hope there will be someone left to remember the female, PoC, trans and gay war heros.
#fascist #trump
arclight@mattblaze She went through officer training at Smith College - I wonder if that qualifies her to be a Smithie? #TalesOfNorthampton
Francis Mangion (M)
Jan Terpstra@mattblaze May she rest in peace.
Sophie Hassfurther@Matt Blaze she gave an interview in 2022. At age 101. Wow.
villon@mattblaze
Many thanks to them for their work in defeating the fascists.
Many thanks to them for their work in defeating the fascists.
jan klarname ullrich@mattblaze rest in power, julia ✊🏼