Today I was doing a quick recap of some cryptography methods in order to prepare my exam and I discovered an astonishing fact about the history of the frequency analysis method.
It turns out that the first inventor of cryptanalysis was Al-Kindi, an Arab Muslim scientist (c. 801–873 CE). According to Wikipedia he is :
Abū Yūsuf Yaʻqūb ibn Isḥāq al-Kindī (Arabic: أبو يوسف يعقوب إبن إسحاق الكندي) (c. 801–873 CE), also known to the West by the Latinized version of his name Alkindus, was an Arab Iraqi polymath:[1] an Islamic philosopher, scientist, astrologer, astronomer, cosmologist, chemist, logician,mathematician, musician, physician, physicist, psychologist, and meteorologist.[2] Al-Kindi was the first of the Muslim Peripatetic philosophers, and is known for his efforts to introduce Greek and Hellenistic philosophy to the Arab world,[3] and as a pioneer in chemistry, cryptography,medicine, music theory, physics, psychology, and the philosophy of science.
Al-Kindi was a descendant of the Kinda tribe which is a well known Arabic tribe native of Najd (present day Saudi Arabia). He was born and educated in Kufa, before pursuing further studies in Baghdad. Al-Kindi became a prominent figure in the House of Wisdom, and a number ofAbbasid Caliphs appointed him to oversee the translation of Greek scientific and philosophical texts into the Arabic language. This contact with "the philosophy of the ancients" (as Greek and Hellenistic philosophy was often referred to by Muslim scholars) had a profound effect on his intellectual development, and led him to write original treatises on subjects ranging from Islamic ethics and metaphysics to Islamic mathematics and pharmacology.[4][5]
In mathematics, al-Kindi played an important role in introducing Indian numerals to the Islamic and Christian world.[6] He was a pioneer incryptanalysis and cryptology, and devised new methods of breaking ciphers, including the frequency analysis method.[7] Using his mathematical and medical expertise, he developed a scale to allow doctors to quantify the potency of their medication.[8] He also experimented with music therapy.[9]
His invention was one of the most creative ever, because every monoalphabetic substitution cipher was vulnerable to his method, it was the most fundamental cryptanalytic advance until WWII.
He even described methods to break -cryptanalysis- some polyalphabetic ciphers;
The Arab mathematician, Al-Kindi, wrote a book on cryptography entitled Risalah fi Istikhraj al-Mu'amma (Manuscript for the Deciphering Cryptographic Messages), circa AD 800. He described the first cryptanalysis techniques, including some for polyalphabetic ciphers, cipher classification, Arabic Phonetics and Syntax, and, most importantly, described the use of several techniques for cryptanalysis, and gave the first descriptions on frequency analysis.[4] He also covered methods of encipherments, cryptanalysis of certain encipherments, and statistical analysis of letters and letter combinations in Arabic.[5]
al-Kindi wrote at least two hundred and sixty books, contributing heavily to geometry (thirty-two books), medicine and philosophy (twenty-two books each), logic (nine books), and physics (twelve books). His influence in the fields of physics, mathematics, medicine, philosophy and music were far-reaching and lasted for several centuries. He is considered one of the twelve greatest minds of the Middle Ages by the Italian Renaissance scholar Gerolamo Cardano (1501–1575).
I highly recommend that you read his biography and achievement as well as the history of the cryptography methods and techniques he invented :
- Al-Kindi Wikipedia
- Cryptography achievement of Al-Kindi
- Frequency analysis : history and usage
- History of cryptography
-- This post is part of the series The Dark Ages or The Golden Ages?, Till When?
