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X-WR-CALDESC:19 December 1801: Date of letter sent in 1801 from Robert Patt
 erson to Thomas Jefferson with a challenge message in code attached (which
  Patterson called a 'Perfect cipher.' The code remained unsolved until 200
 7 when mathematician Dr. Lawren Smithline decrypted it and discovered it w
 as The Declaration of Independence.\n\nThe information below is excerpted 
 from a <i>Wall Street Journal</i> article by Rachel Emma Silverman. See th
 e link at the end of this page to view the full WSJ article.\n\nPresident 
 Jefferson and Mr. Patterson were both officials at the American Philosophi
 cal Society -- a group that promoted scholarly research in the sciences an
 d humanities -- and were enthusiasts of ciphers and other codes\, regularl
 y exchanging letters about them.\n\nTo Mr. Patterson's view\, a perfect co
 de had four properties: It should be adaptable to all languages\; it shoul
 d be simple to learn and memorize\; it should be easy to write and to read
 \; and most important of all\, 'it should be absolutely inscrutable to all
  unacquainted with the particular key or secret for decyphering.'\n\nMr. P
 atterson then included in the letter an example of a message in his cipher
 \, one that would be so difficult to decode that it would 'defy the united
  ingenuity of the whole human race\,' he wrote. The code\, Mr. Patterson m
 ade clear in his letter\, was not a simple substitution cipher.\n\nBut Mr.
  Patterson had a few more tricks up his sleeve. He wrote the message text 
 vertically\, in columns from left to right\, using no capital letters or s
 paces. The writing formed a grid\, in this case of about 40 lines of some 
 60 letters each. Then\, Mr. Patterson broke the grid into sections of up t
 o nine lines\, numbering each line in the section from one to nine. In the
  next step\, Mr. Patterson transcribed each numbered line to form a new gr
 id\, scrambling the order of the numbered lines within each section. Every
  section\, however\, repeated the same jumbled order of lines.\n\nThe tric
 k to solving the puzzle\, as Mr. Patterson explained in his letter\, meant
  knowing the following: the number of lines in each section\, the order in
  which those lines were transcribed and the number of random letters added
  to each line.\n\nMr. Patterson estimated that the potential combinations 
 to solve the puzzle was 'upwards of ninety millions of millions.'\n\nNot b
 roken until 2007 by Dr. Lawren Smithline\, mathematician at Center for Com
 munications Research at Princeton. After about a week of working on the pu
 zzle\, the numerical key to Mr. Patterson's cipher emerged -- 13\, 34\, 57
 \, 65\, 22\, 78\, 49. Using that digital key\, he was able to unfurl the c
 ipher's text:\n\n'In Congress\, July Fourth\, one thousand seven hundred a
 nd seventy six. A declaration by the Representatives of the United States 
 of America in Congress assembled. When in the course of human events...'\n
 \nThat\, of course\, is the beginning -- with a few liberties taken -- to 
 the Declaration of Independence\, written at least in part by Jefferson hi
 mself. 'Patterson played this little joke on Thomas Jefferson\,' says Dr. 
 Smithline. 'And nobody knew until now.'
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UID:fa0b82dc-89b3-43ae-987e-4801eebfbd07
DTSTAMP:20260425T140500Z
DESCRIPTION:19 December 1801: Date of letter sent in 1801 from Robert Patte
 rson to Thomas Jefferson with a challenge message in code attached (which 
 Patterson called a 'Perfect cipher.' The code remained unsolved until 2007
  when mathematician Dr. Lawren Smithline decrypted it and discovered it wa
 s The Declaration of Independence.\n\nThe information below is excerpted f
 rom a <i>Wall Street Journal</i> article by Rachel Emma Silverman. See the
  link at the end of this page to view the full WSJ article.\n\nPresident J
 efferson and Mr. Patterson were both officials at the American Philosophic
 al Society -- a group that promoted scholarly research in the sciences and
  humanities -- and were enthusiasts of ciphers and other codes\, regularly
  exchanging letters about them.\n\nTo Mr. Patterson's view\, a perfect cod
 e had four properties: It should be adaptable to all languages\; it should
  be simple to learn and memorize\; it should be easy to write and to read\
 ; and most important of all\, 'it should be absolutely inscrutable to all 
 unacquainted with the particular key or secret for decyphering.'\n\nMr. Pa
 tterson then included in the letter an example of a message in his cipher\
 , one that would be so difficult to decode that it would 'defy the united 
 ingenuity of the whole human race\,' he wrote. The code\, Mr. Patterson ma
 de clear in his letter\, was not a simple substitution cipher.\n\nBut Mr. 
 Patterson had a few more tricks up his sleeve. He wrote the message text v
 ertically\, in columns from left to right\, using no capital letters or sp
 aces. The writing formed a grid\, in this case of about 40 lines of some 6
 0 letters each. Then\, Mr. Patterson broke the grid into sections of up to
  nine lines\, numbering each line in the section from one to nine. In the 
 next step\, Mr. Patterson transcribed each numbered line to form a new gri
 d\, scrambling the order of the numbered lines within each section. Every 
 section\, however\, repeated the same jumbled order of lines.\n\nThe trick
  to solving the puzzle\, as Mr. Patterson explained in his letter\, meant 
 knowing the following: the number of lines in each section\, the order in 
 which those lines were transcribed and the number of random letters added 
 to each line.\n\nMr. Patterson estimated that the potential combinations t
 o solve the puzzle was 'upwards of ninety millions of millions.'\n\nNot br
 oken until 2007 by Dr. Lawren Smithline\, mathematician at Center for Comm
 unications Research at Princeton. After about a week of working on the puz
 zle\, the numerical key to Mr. Patterson's cipher emerged -- 13\, 34\, 57\
 , 65\, 22\, 78\, 49. Using that digital key\, he was able to unfurl the ci
 pher's text:\n\n'In Congress\, July Fourth\, one thousand seven hundred an
 d seventy six. A declaration by the Representatives of the United States o
 f America in Congress assembled. When in the course of human events...'\n
 \nThat\, of course\, is the beginning -- with a few liberties taken -- to 
 the Declaration of Independence\, written at least in part by Jefferson hi
 mself. 'Patterson played this little joke on Thomas Jefferson\,' says Dr. 
 Smithline. 'And nobody knew until now.'
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20271219T000000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20271219T235900
LOCATION:
SUMMARY:1801: Patterson's 'Perfect Cipher' Letter sent to Thomas Jefferson
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