I want to tell you a story. For 3 years I’ve been researching Elizebeth Smith Friedman, a puzzle-solving heroine of the world wars.

A woman erased from history. Kudos to @jfagone & new book on Elizebeth Friedman, pioneer cryptologist & codebreaker.

Born in 1892 to a large family of Indiana Quakers, she studied poetry, not math. But then she taught herself to be a codebreaker.
A codebreaker solves secret messages without knowing the key. Starting from scratch, at age 23, Elizebeth became one of the best ever.
I first saw her name a few years ago, on a library website. After Snowden, I had been reading about the history of the NSA

The library held the Friedmans’ papers. I decided to go see Elizebeth’s collection, the things she had preserved. Kept in this vault.