Cryptologists by Morning, "Turists" by Evening

GREETINGS CRYPTOLOGISTS!!!!

Welcome back to the Breaking Codes and Winning Wars blog! Today was a perfect balance of academics and free exploration. We woke up bright and early to be in class by 9:30. After a brief lecture about World War I codes (not ciphers, let's be proper here), we were so graciously gifted time to work on our group projects. After adequate research was conducted, we had the pleasure of welcoming Sir Dermot Turing, Alan Turing's nephew, to classroom 9. 

Sir Turing is a scholar of many disciplines, most notably law and historical cryptology. He gave our students an extensive talk about many topics, including WWI cryptology, assessment of cipher security, and some fun narratives about WW2 cryptology. After learning so much about Alan Turing, it was very neat to hear from his direct relative. Although the students were stoked, I think it's safe to say that Dr. Millichap was the most starstruck. 

In the afternoon, the cryptologists had free time to explore London or work on group projects! 

Maggie and Margaret (me) went to go explore Kensington Palace and Gardens. Though parts of it were under construction, we were still able to fully explore the gardens, including the beautiful Diana Princess of Wales Sunken Garden. 

Another group went and explored the British Museum, which is a public museum dedicated to human history, art, and culture. It features a permanent collection of eight million works (the largest in the world) so its safe to say this group had lots to look at!

Dr. Woodard and Dr. Millichap had lots of their own fun in the free afternoon. Dr. Woodard went to explore the Tate Modern art gallery, where he saw Robert Indiana’s iconic “LOVE” sculpture! Dr. Millichap, on the other hand, went to Duck World where he saw an iconic collection of rubber ducks! 

 I (Ella!) made my to Notting Hill to explore the HUGE market they have set up. I was overwhelmed by the amount of vendors, gold jewelry (my favorite!), and vintage clothing booths. Shoutout to my mom for letting me make a few fun purchases! I even saw some fellow Furman students from the Medical Mysteries MayX also exploring the area. 

Lilia, Kali, and Katie took the afternoon slow, with lots of bed rotting, rest, and traumatizing cleaning. "I had to do laundry for four hours just to get my shirts dry. It was tragic," Lilia recounted. 

For dinner, Dr. Millichap met up with a Furman alum who now lives in London! After this, Dr. Millichap and Dr. Woodard checked out a comedy club together!

Ella and Hannah had a girls night at an Italian restaurant restaurant, where the pizza was good but the yap was better. Kali, Katie, and Josh joined the fun soon after. 

After dinner, Ava H. and Lorelei joined Medical Mysteries students for a performance of Phantom of the Opera.

We're headed to Cambridge for a day trip tomorrow; stay tuned for more exciting stories!

Signing Off, 

Ella and Margaret

London Underground

Welcome back to another fun day in London!

Instead of class or a day trip, the cryptologists went underground to the Churchill War Rooms (also known as the Cabinet War Rooms). This complex housed the British command center during the war, and is where Winston Churchill, who was Prime Minister during World War II, lived and worked along with other members of staff. It was a self-guided tour, and showcased the bunker as it was when the last remaining members exited in 1945. The calendar on the wall still displayed August 16, 1945, the day the lights were turned off in the central command room for the first time in six years! One of the rooms, Annex 10, was converted into a museum on the life of Winston Churchill. Did you know that he was an avid writer and painter, and has had several works published?  

 

The coolest part of the War Rooms was definitely the Map Room, where British command plotted the location of every boat, troop, and battlefield that they could. This was all made possible thanks to the work of the codebreakers at Bletchley Park! When I was in the Map Room, a man asked me to take a picture of him in front of the giant maps. He told me that his uncle was an American Naval officer and was stationed in the War Rooms to work in the Map Room! He wanted to recreate a picture that he has of his uncle standing in front of those very same maps. It was a cool moment!  

The Map Room

A chart of V1 rockets launched into London and shot down by the RAF 

After finishing the tour, several cryptologists got to enjoy a special treat, as the Royal Guard was rehearsing for the upcoming celebration of the King’s birthday. Interestingly, the king was born in November, but the monarch’s birthday is always officially celebrated in June due to weather.   

The Royal Guards rehearse 

 

The afternoon was open for cryptologists to do as they see fit. Several people split off to do some fun things, like Hannah and Caitlyn (me!), who went to tea and a performance of Onegin by the Royal Ballet. 

 

A yummy tea before the ballet! 

Josh went on a splendid adventure to Kensington Gardens! He successfully climbed a beautiful tree after failing an undisclosed number of times (his words, not ours), and then went to a train station and played piano. A lovely afternoon!  

 

Josh and his tree 

Joseph, Nick, Anya, Makayla, and I (Ava) grabbed lunch (from Pret, obviously) and ate in St. James Park before heading to the Science Museum! We explored the Medicine exhibit, Aviation exhibit, and Math exhibit (of course), and saw yet another Enigma machine there! We’ve lost count of how many we’ve come across on this trip.

 

The science museum & part of the math exhibit!  

 

Finally, Katie and Ella got a tour of the entire Wimbledon facility (thanks, student discounts!). Both of these former competitive tennis players got to geek out over Wimbledon history and saw some extremely large trophies. They even got to go into Center Court!  

 

Ella and Katie on their exclusive tour!  

Finally, we all finished writing the proposals for our final projects before hitting the hay. Time to recharge for another Enigmagnificent day tomorrow!  

Thanks for tuning in! 

• - Caitlyn Kubista and Ava Kinghorn