Arne Beurling
FEB 03, 2015
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.030888
It’s the birthday of Arne Beurling, who was born in 1905 in Gothenburg, Sweden. Beurling studied mathematics at Uppsala University and went on to become an expert in harmonic analysis, complex analysis and potential theory. During World War II he lived in his native Sweden, which was neutral. In 1940 Beurling set himself the task of deciphering the German teleprinter traffic that crossed Sweden on its way to and from German-occupied Norway. The messages were sent using an encryption machine called the T52. After two weeks’ work - mostly on pen and paper - he had reversed-engineered the T52 and deciphered its messages.
Date in History: 3 February 1905
© 2015 American Institute of Physics
