Elizebeth Smith Friedman

Elizebeth Smith Friedman was an American cryptanalyst and author who deciphered enemy codes in both World Wars and helped to solve international smuggling cases during Prohibition. Born in Huntington, Indiana, in 1892 and raised on a farm, she graduated from Hillsdale College in 1915 with a major in English literature, having also studied Latin, Greek and German. Over her career she worked for the United States Treasury, Coast Guard, Navy and Army, and the International Monetary Fund, and she has been called America's first female cryptanalyst. With her husband William Friedman she wrote a study of the claimed ciphers in Shakespeare's works, published as The Shakespearean Ciphers Examined, which won awards from the Folger Shakespeare Library and the American Shakespeare Theatre and Academy. She was inducted into the NSA Hall of Honor in 1999, the year of its creation, and died in 1980.