Arvid Gerhard Damm

Arvid Gerhard Damm ( † 1927) was a Swedish cryptologist, engineer and inventor. He is one of the early inventors of the rotor principle for encryption.

Life and work

His invention of a rotor cipher machine reported dam as patent number 52 279 on October 10, 1919 at the Swedish Patent Office. He is one of four inventors who independently in four different countries, using rotors for cryptography proposed in the period 1917-1919.

Just before the dam patent application already had Edward Hugh lifters in the United States in 1917, the idea of ​​a rotor cipher machine, which he, however, until 1921 for a patent. Arthur Scherbius in Germany a rotor machines had applied for a patent in 1918. Three days before the dam also reported independently of the other Hugo Koch in the Netherlands for his invention of a rotor machine patent.

Dam died in 1927.

Development

The company Aktiebolaget (AB) Crypto graph was ( German about: cryptographers - stock company ) As early as 1915, established to further develop the dam inventions to manufacture and distribute. After Boris Hagelin had occurred in 1922 in the company AB Crypto graph, and had taken over the management in 1925, Hagelin took over the company after the death of the dam, they reorganized and changed its name to AB Cryptoteknik. From the dam a few successful inventions encryption machines developed over the time. One of the most common was the M -209 that was used by the Americans in World War II. Hagelin took refuge at this time from Sweden to Switzerland, where the company was established under the name of Crypto AG in train again, under which it exists there today.