Edward Hebern

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Edward Hugh Hebern (April 23, 1869 – February 10, 1952) was an early inventor of rotor machines, devices for encryption. He got a patent in 1919, shortly before three others patented (in other countries) much the same thing. They were Arthur Scherbius in Germany, Hugo Koch in the Netherlands, and A Damm in Sweden. Hebern started a company to market the Hebern rotor machine; one of his employees was Agnes Meyer, who left the Navy in Washington DC to work for Hebern in California. Scherbius designed the Enigma, Koch sold his patent to Scherbius a few years later, and Damm's company — taken over by Boris Hagelin after his death — moved to Switzerland and is still in existence, as Crypto AG.

Hebern's implementation of his idea was less secure than he believed, for William F. Friedman found at least one method of attack when it was offered to the US Government. Hebern's company did not prosper, his promotional efforts for it were questioned, and he was tried and convicted for fraud. Agnes Meyer returned to Washington to work for the Navy.

With Frank Rowlett, Friedman went on to design a much more secure, and much more complex, rotor machine for the US Army. It eventually became the SIGABA.

Hebern was born in Streator, Illinois on April 23, 1869. He was brought up in the Soldiers' Orphan Home in Bloomington. At the age of 14, he lived and worked on a farm near Odin. Later, he became a carpenter. He died of a heart attack on 10 February, 1952.