Thursday, February 4, 2010

Cryptex

The word cryptex is a neologism coined by the author Dan Brown for his 2003 novel The Da Vinci Code, denoting a portable vault used to hide secret messages. It is a combination of the words cryptology and codex; "an apt title for this device" since it uses "the science of cryptology to protect information written on the contained scroll or codex"

The (first) cryptex featured in the novel is described as a stone cylinder comprising "five doughnut-sized disks of marble that had been stacked and affixed to one another within a delicate brass framework"; end caps make it impossible to see inside the hollow cylinder. Each of the disks is carved with the entire alphabet and, since they can be rotated individually, the disks can be aligned to spell different five-letter words.

The cryptex works "much like a bicycle's combination lock", and if one arranges the disks to spell out the correct password, "the tumblers inside align, and the entire cylinder slides apart"

In the suceeding posts I will try to recreate the same cryptex (ofcourse with different code alltogether).

So! Keep watching!

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