How Alan Turing Cracked the Enigma Code Using Statistics

-Update April, 2019-
I made this video back when I was a senior in high school for a class project, I never expected anyone outside of my class to watch it. I understand that I could have researched the topic much more thoroughly (I only used 1-2 sources to make this). If you have any additional info or want to correct anything- go for it in the comments! History and science is about amending what we know to give the most accurate picture of an event or phenomenon that we can.

My end of the year project for AP Statistics.

Most of the information is from the book The Theory that Would Not Die: How Bayes' Rule Cracked the Enigma Code, Hunted Down Russian, Submarines & Emerged Triumphant From Two Centuries of Controversy by Sharon Bertsch McGrayne

[fredrichenning]

Turing based his work on the amazing labor already done by the Poles. Without their contribution, he would probably not have arrived at cracking the Enigma cypher until it was too late.

[rrrado]

How Alan Turing cracked Enigma Code? Well, he was told by Polish how to do it, he also received working Enigma machine from Polish, he hired the same Polish mathematicans in Bletchley Park and then he cracked it because he was a genius and hero.

[nigeltown]

The statistical approach was also aided by a major shortcoming of the Enigma approach to encryption; a letter could never be encoded to itself.

[PlasmaCoolantLeak]

Ignore the negative comments. You did a good job with this.

[SNIFFMYBADGER]

Excellent video, well summarised and a great way to present it. It was utterly disgusting how the government treated him after the war, he was a hero.

[bascostbudde]

"History and science is about amending what we know to give the most accurate picture of an event or phenomenon that we can. "
We will be watching your career with great interest.

[marcysss]

At school teachers said it was Polish who cracked enigma

[bartekwtrpl]

Three Polish mathematicians: Marian Rejewski, Jerzy Różycki and Henryk Zygalski cracked the Enigma using the cryptologic bomb.

[tommyvasec]

Gina, Don't be so humble about your video. What you have published here is amazing.
Very few people can upload a video clip of this quality on YouTube. I'm curious to see where you will be in ten years ;-)

[gowdsake]

I am seriously impressed !
The bombe however was created using polish designs and the basic decoding had already been done by the Poles and to some extent the French

[pawelostalecki]

How Marian Reyewski cracked enigma code ;)

[edsharman]

Very very nicely done, thank you, one of the best descriptions I’ve come across

[miladirani]

Why you didn't make more videos like this?

[phuet]

The movie "Imitation Game" was issued in 2014 and tells the story, but only the part involving Turing. Should be watched by anybody fascinated by cryptography. Fascinating that the brits had to deliberately not act on some decrypted messages, and therefore sacrificed some people, in order to avoid tipping off the Germans that their code had been broken.

[eldiablo]

Every time I visit the u-505 exhibit at the Science&Industry museum in Chicago, I always think WOW this is the u-boat that the US Navy Captain Daniel Gallery captured that also contained Hitler's enigma that Alan Turing helped decipher which helped the allies win the war. Its shameful how Alan was treated, blackballed, and convicted of a crime because of his sexuality even with all his contributions to the war effort. Without Alan who knows if the allies would've won the war, which Im sure they wouldve anyways, but who knows how much longer the war would've went on without Alans contribution the war effort with his skills and knowledge. I'm glad Britain have made amends and have posthumously pardoned him and are finally giving him the recognition he deserves.. but it should've never happened in the first place.

[robertbilling]

Great video, neat drawings. This sort of thing is slipping away into history now, and the people are becoming less real, which is a pity. When I was an undergraduate in Cambridge the people who had worked with him were still lecturing and there were a lot of anecdotes about him still circulating, but now that sort of thing is being lost.

[jurjenvanderhoek]

It was actually thanks to Gordon Welchman that Turings machine (the bombe) became succesful. He developed an extension called the "diagonal board" by which "the bombe" would operate considerably faster.

[gregoriokustrinho]

Enigma was broken in Warsaw in DEC 1932 - 7 years before WWII. by polish cryptologists (Rejewski, Różycki, Zygalski). This was top secret even after war - now it's officially confirmed.

[Komix]

You mean how he didn't because he spent years getting it wrong and then was handed the solution by the Poles?

[coolhacker]

Wow, You presented this in high school? I would give you an A+ with extra credit. Way to go. Bayes theorem rocks!