The Role of Code-Breaking in World War II

Date and Time

Wednesday, May 20, 2026 from 6:30 pm to 9:30 pm

Location

Online at Jitsi

Presenters

Chuck Pross - cmpross yahoo com

Summary

A historical retrospective of NSA code-breaking during World War II

Abstract

It should be no surprise that your luck at poker will significantly increase if you peek at your opponents cards. What's true in poker is also true in war.s

Chuck Pross presents a short, non-technical talk on how cryptanalysis (code-breaking) helped shorten World War II by as much as two years, and in doing so, saved millions of lives. Much of code-breaking during World War II was classified until well into the 1980's, long after most of the history of that war was written, so much of it's role is not well known.

Chuck will share a brief history of the roles of codes and code-breaking, then discuss the significant events of World War II where cryptanalysis played a pivotal role in the allies final victory. The discussion will end with a short discussion of how today codes play a vital role in our modern society.

Bio

Chuck graduated from Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute as an Electrical Engineer and did graduate work at Northeastern University. He worked at IBM's Advanced Development Laboratories, General Electric's Ordnance Division, and at NASA's Electronic Research Center in Cambridge, MA, before being recruited by the NSA to do several years of classified development work. He returned to NASA, where he served as Technical Director for the Earth Orbiting Satellite Data Information System and retired in 2001.