Appendix 1: Significant contributors to information theory and cryptography

Patrick McConnell

This list shows significant contributors to the different fields covered in this book. All these famous people have entries in Wikipedia and other sources that give further details on their contributions.

Person	Field/active	Contribution
Ackoff, Russell Management theorist (US)	Information technology Late-20th century	Pioneer in management science, developer of the DIKW model
Adleman, Leonard Computer scientist (US)	Cryptography (modern) Mid-20th–21st century	Joint developer of the RSA algorithm used in public/private key cryptography
Alberti, Leon Battista Cryptographer (Italy)	Cryptography (classical) Mid-16th century	Believed to be original designer of the polyalphabetic cipher, and sometimes called “Founder of Western Cryptography”
Al-Kindi Mathematician (Arab/Iraqi)	Cryptography (classical) Mid-9th century	Believed to be the original designer of the concept of frequency analysis of ciphers to detect the most likely vowels and consonants in a message
Allen, Paul Software engineer (US)	Information technology 21st century	Co-founder of Microsoft with Bill Gates
Atanasoff, John Physicist (US)	Information technology Mid-20th century	Built an “electronic computer” in 1942 before Mauchly and Eckert, and given