David Kahn

David Kahn has died. His groundbreaking book, The Codebreakers, was the first serious book I read about codebreaking, and one of the primary reasons I entered this field.

He will be missed.

EDITED TO ADD (2/4): Funeral website.

EDITED TO ADD (2/10): New York Times obituary.

Tags: books, cryptanalysis, history of cryptography

Posted on February 2, 2024 at 3:06 PM • 13 Comments

emily’s post • February 4, 2024 7:56 AM

@ Noone, All

died too a few days ago

This is typical in other fields e.g. mathematics. The standard is somewhere around a year, while colleagues and former students are contacted to prepare their reminiscences and an in memoriam editor is selected.