HIGHLIGHTED ARTICLE | PERSPECTIVES William Friedman, Geneticist Turned Cryptographer Irwin L. Goldman1 Department of Horticulture, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Wisconsin 53706 ABSTRACT William Friedman (1891–1969), trained as a plant geneticist at Cornell University, was employed at Riverbank Laboratories by the eccentric millionaire George Fabyan to work on wheat breeding. Friedman, however, soon became intrigued by and started working on a pet project of Fabyan’s involving the conjecture that Francis Bacon, a polymath known for the study of ciphers, was the real author of Shakespeare’s plays. Thus, beginning in 1916, Friedman turned his attention to the so called “Baconian cipher,” and developed decryption techniques that bore similarity to approaches for solving problems in population genetics. His most significant, indeed pathbreaking, work used ideas from genetics and statistics, focusing on analysis of the frequencies of letters in language use. Although he had transitioned from being a geneticist to a cryptographer, his earlier work had resonance in his later pursuits. He soon began working directly for the United States government and produced solutions used to solve complex military ciphers, in particular to break the Japanese Purple code during World War II. Another important legacy of his work was the establishment of the Signal Intelligence Service and eventually the National Security Agency. KEYWORDS cryptogram; cryptanalysis; Baconian cipher; Riverbank Laboratory code is a rule that governs how one piece of information of a gene. Thus, codes and coding have long been a part of Ais converted into a different representation of that in- understanding modern genetics and may be an important formation. Both language and writing are elegant examples part of the allure of this field of science. of codes developed to transmit complex concepts using William Friedman (1891–1969) was a plant genetics stu- symbols. Humans have used codes for millennia to commu- dent at Cornell University between 1912 and 1916. During this nicate and to prevent communications from being discov- time, he taught introductory and advanced genetics and con- ered. The scientific approach to secret communications is a ducted research on maize with Rollins Emerson at Cornell and field known as cryptography. Modern cryptography makes George Shull at Cold Spring Harbor, both pioneers in the field use of complex mathematical algorithms, rather than sym- of genetics and breeding. Hired as a geneticist at Riverbank bols, to transform messages into encrypted forms. Decoding Laboratories in Geneva, IL while still in graduate school, Friedman cryptograms requires intelligence and creativity, and this began applying the type of thinking one would use for genetics typeofexpertiseisofgreatvalueinmilitarystrategyand problems to solve the ciphers and cryptographs that were sent tactics. to Riverbank for decoding by the United States military’s The science of genetics is intertwined with the science of cipher division. Friedman eventually left the field of genet- coding, since genetic material itself contains a code that is ics and developed a series of approaches to encryption that ultimately translated into proteins by cells. One could argue were to revolutionize the field of cryptography. His critical that our understanding of heredity was, in part, a process of pathbreaking work relied on statistical approaches to lan- decoding nature. Beginning in the early 1960s, the nature of guages, focusing on analysis of the frequencies of letters in the genetic code could, at last, be investigated directly and the language use. Eventually working for the War Department precise relationship between nucleotides and protein synthe- in the United States government, Friedman’smanysolu- sis was established. Preceding this, however, geneticists had tions to complex military ciphers led to large improvements long been accustomed to using codes for the loci that control in national security, including the breaking of the Japanese the presence or absence of traits and the various allelic forms Purple code during WWII. Friedman is considered the father of modern cryptography. This essay traces the arc of Fried- Copyright © 2017 by the Genetics Society of America man’s career from geneticist to cryptographer, and points to doi: https://doi.org/10.1534/genetics.117.201624 1Address for correspondence: Department of Horticulture, University of Wisconsin– the parallels between problem solving approaches in these Madison, 1575 Linden Dr., Madison, WI 53706. E-mail: [email protected] two fields. Genetics, Vol. 206, 1–8 May 2017 1 William Friedman’s Early Years genetics and advanced genetics in 1915 (Murphy and Kass 2007). Emerson had been a student of Edward Murray East, a Wolfe Frederic Friedman, later William F. Friedman, was born geneticist at Harvard’s Bussey Institute (Sax 1966; Goldman in 1891 in Kishinev, which is now part of the Republic of 2002), and was among a cohort of newly trained faculty Moldova. At the time of Friedman’s birth, Kishinev was the bringing applied genetics to land-grant institutions through- Bessarabian capital of czarist Russia. His father Frederic was out the United States. from Bucharest and worked as a translator and interpreter in In May 1915, Emerson received an unsolicited letter from the Russian postal service. His mother, Rosa Trust, was from Colonel George Fabyan of Chicago, asking him if he might be Kishinev. By the time of William’s birth, more than half the able to recommend someone who could head up his new population of Kishinev were Jews. Restrictions imposed by genetics department at Riverbank Laboratories in Geneva, IL, Russian authorities following the assassination of Alexander located 30 miles west of downtown Chicago on Fox River. fi II in 1881, however, made life dif cult for Jews, and many Emerson recommended Friedman. In trying to convince thousands began emigrating. The Friedmans followed this Friedman to join the work at Riverbank, Fabyan wrote him path and came to Pittsburgh, PA in 1892, where Frederic a letter encouraging him to use genetics to improve crop worked for the Singer sewing machine company and Rosa adaptation and productivity: “I want the father of wheat, worked for a clothing company (Clark 1977). The family and I want a wife for him, so that the child will grow in arid was in near-constant debt and struggled to make ends meet. country. Where did I get this problem? I got it from one of my Nevertheless, America provided a welcome refuge and they wealthy Jewish friends, and if I can beat him to it, he will foot became American citizens in 1896. the bills and be damned glad to” (cited in Munson 2013). William Friedman was a precocious child with interests in Given Friedman’s interests in Zionism and agriculture, this science and agriculture. He was also drawn to puzzles and was could hardly have failed to appeal to him. Leaving Cornell, ’ takenwithEdgarAllenPoes The Gold Bug,afamousstory Friedman joined Fabyan at Riverbank. He did not publish any publishedin1843inwhichPoeusesanencryptedmessage scientific articles from his graduate work at Cornell or pro- fi that must be decoded in order to nd a buried treasure (Clark duce a graduate thesis. 1977).Adetaileddescriptionisprovidedinthestoryforthe solution of a substitution cipher that employed the frequencies of letters. This episode foretells Friedman’s lifelong interest in George Fabyan and Riverbank Laboratories fi codes and ciphers (Rosenheim 1997), but the eld of genetics George Fabyan (Figure 1) was a scion of Boston-based Bliss, intervened before Freidman could devote himself to that pursuit. Fabyan & Company; one of the country’s most prosperous At Pittsburgh Central High School, Friedman was part of a textile firms. After a stint working in the Chicago office of “ ” debating society known as the Emporean Philomath (Clark that firm, the independently wealthy Fabyan decided to de- 1977). There, among other topics, the members debated the velop a laboratory to fund his pet scientific pursuits, among merits of Zionism, the nationalistic movement that espoused them the new science of genetics. Fabyan hobnobbed with the reestablishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. many influential people both in the United States and abroad. Zionism had sprung up in the 19th century as a reaction to For his public service work, the governor of Illinois awarded anti-Semitism in Europe. The movement had an agrarian him an honorary title of colonel, by which he was known emphasis, whereby collective farms would be established so throughout his life. Colonel Fabyan said “Some rich men go that a people who had largely been displaced from agricul- in for art collections, gay times on the Riviera, or extravagant ture for thousands of years could return to work the soil. living, but they all get satiated. That’s why I stick to scientific Friedman was passionate about these ideas, and this became experiments, spending money to discover valuable things part of his inspiration to enroll in Michigan Agricultural Col- that universities can’t afford. You never get sick of too much lege in Lansing, MI in 1910 to study agricultural genetics. knowledge” (Clark 1977). Leaving Michigan after 6 months, Friedman enrolled at Cor- Fabyan began buying up land on the Fox River near Geneva nell University in Ithaca, NY, where he was a student of the in 1905 (Munson 2013). Eventually employing 150 workers newly developing science of genetics. He spent his summers and covering 350 acres, Fabyan’s research complex,