Boris Caesar Wilhelm

Good morning James. Once again I can say not a clue. Boris did play a large role in WWII. Enjoy your day!

Well that saved many lives and he deserved the dollars he made from it.

that was a big invention in WWII - glad that he was on our side! Have a great day

Good morning James,

I had no idea, but he must have been good at keeping a secret.

Make yourself an astonishing day.

Good morning again, James... an interesting (and important) invention from a man with a very unique and interesting name.

It is kind of sad that there was and is even a need for an encryption machine.

Thank you very much, James, for sharing this interesting story.

Have a great day and a very special weekend.

From Wikipedia....

Born of Swedish parents in Adshikent, Azerbaijan, Hagelin attended Lundsberg boarding school and later studied mechanical engineering at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, graduating in 1914. He gained experience in engineering through work in Sweden and the United States.

His father Karl Wilhelm Hagelin worked for Nobel in Baku,^[1] but the family returned to Sweden after the Russian revolution. Karl Wilhelm was an investor in Arvid Gerhard Damm's company Aktiebolaget Cryptograph, established to sell rotor machines built using Damm's 1919 patent. Boris Hagelin was placed in the firm to represent the family investment. In 1925, Hagelin took over the firm, later reorganising it as Aktiebolaget Cryptoteknik in 1932. His machines competed with Scherbius' Enigma machines, but sold rather better.

At the beginning of World War II, Hagelin moved from Sweden to Switzerland, all the way across Germany and through Berlin to Genoa, carrying the design documents for the company's latest machine, and re-established his company there (it still operates as Crypto AG in Zug). That design was small, cheap and moderately secure, and he convinced the US military to adopt it. Many tens of thousands of them were made, and Hagelin became quite wealthy as a result. Hagelin fraudulently sold compromised machines to a variety of customers^[2][3]. Historian David Kahn has suggested that Hagelin was the only cypher-machine maker who ever became a millionaire.

Boris was the great-grandfather of Carl Hagelin, current NHL player for the Washington Capitals.

 

Boris Hagelin

 

An M-209 designed by Hagelin

James - that was an very important invention.  The code encryption was so important in war.

Interesting man, and history. I think the Germans had their own experts who invented the Enigma as well.

Thank you again for another person of history. You have taught me more history than my first 12 years of public school...

happy Saturday James Dray 

Amazing James at what some people have done to help the war effort in World war II.

James,

Another wonderful. and interesting post.  I see that Roy Kelley has substituted for Barbara Todaro today.  A

Hi James Dray - War sometimes creates necessity doesn't it?  

Hi James-All of the people who you highlight certainly deserve recognition !!!

That was certainly an important invention for the times. And nice for him to have derived some financial benefit from it as well!

What a great idea for an invention James Dray . Prior to his invention I've heard many stories of the "code talkers" which were Native Americans who's language was only spoken and never recorded.

Boris Caesar Wilhelm certainly had an idea and an invention at the right place and the right time.