Peter Donovan's article on WWII Cryptanalysis in AMS "Notices"

An article by Dr Peter Donovan on World War II cryptanalysis has been published in the Notices of the American Mathematical Society (AMS). The piece, "Alan Turing, Marshall Hall, and the Alignment of WW2 Japanese Naval Intercepts", appears in the March issueof the publication.

Dr Donovan argues that British mathematician and cryptanalyst Alan Turing's contributions to applied probability theory - and the central role this played in WWII cryptology - have been significantly overlooked. Dr Donovan notes that the recent declassification of a 1941 working paper of Turing's has shone a light on the extent and quality of Turing's research and its application to cryptology.

Dr Donovan is a prominent expert on cryptologic history, whose research on the topic spans more than 12 years. In 2003 he was the first in the modern era to recognise the damage done to Japanese Navy communications security by the practice of using only multiples of three as code numbers. This was pivotal in the 1942 Battle for Australia. A book written by Dr Donovan and John Mack on code breaking in the Pacific War is to be published by Springer New York this year. 

AMS's Notices is circulated to all society members.

• Read Dr Donovan's article: Alan Turing, Marshall Hall, and the Alignment of WW2 Japanese Naval Intercepts.