Elizabeth Friedman

I watched a pretty good episode of American Experience on Tuesday evening.  Like usual, it was a pretty good story.  The way they set it up, I thought this would be profiling one of the women stationed at Bletchley Park during WWII, and her unsung role in that triumph of codebreaking.  Man was I wrong.  She was involved in WWII codebreaking, but not that effort.  Even though she didn't have a Turing machine, she still managed with pencil and paper to dismantle the threat that was taking shape in South America. Amidst all that, there was time for a classic American love story; her counterpart being William Friedman, himself a notable crytpologist (they started that career path together during WWI).