Agnes Meyer Driscoll (1889-1971), also known as Miss Aggie or Madame X - American cryptographer .
| Agnes Driscoll | |
|---|---|
| Agnes meyer driscoll | |
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| Date of Birth | July 24, 1889 |
| Place of Birth | Illinois , USA |
| Date of death | September 16, 1971 (82 years old) |
| Citizenship | USA |
| Occupation | Cryptograph |
Biography
Agness May Meyer was born in Illinois in 1889, graduated from Ohio College in 1909, and received a bachelor of arts degree from Ohio State University in 1911, specializing in mathematics, physics, foreign languages, and music. After graduating from university, Agnes moved to Amarillo (Texas), where she headed the music department of the local military academy , and then - the department of mathematics in high school.
On June 22, 1918, a year after the United States entered World War I , Agnes joined the U.S. Navy and was appointed to the encryption unit of the fleet’s communications chief. After that, Agnes, until 1949 (with the exception of the two-year period when she worked in a private company), served as the leading cryptanalyst of the US Navy. One of her first tasks was to participate in the development of one of the first US Navy cryptographic machines - “SM”. In 1923, Agnes quit her job and joined the Hebern Electric Code Company as a technical consultant. Despite the fact that this company soon went bankrupt, working in it was extremely useful for Agnes's future career. She returned to service in the navy in the spring of 1924. In August 1924, she married Michael Driscoll, a Washington lawyer.
In the following years of service, Agnes Driskol hacked the - the so-called Red Book in the 1920s and the Blue Book in 1930, and in 1940 attempted to crack the - the operational code of the Japanese US Navy used after attacking Pearl Harbor during the Pacific War. In early 1935, Agnes successfully cracked the code of the Japanese encryption machine M-1 (known in the USA as the ORANGE machine ), which was used to encrypt messages from Japanese naval attaches around the world.
At the beginning of World War II, Agnes Driscoll worked on hacking the Enigma machine codes used by the German navy. In 1942-1943 she worked in this direction together with British cryptographers, under the leadership of L. Safford and . In 1949, along with other cryptologists of the Navy, Agnes Driskol went to work at the Security Agency of the Armed Forces, and in 1952 - into the National Security Agency created on its basis. She retired in 1959.
She died in 1971, was buried in Arlington National Cemetery .
In 2000, her name was immortalized in the Hall of Fame of the National Security Agency .