“the most mysterious manuscript in the world” · introduction voynich’s finding voynich’s...
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“The Most Mysterious Manuscript in the World”
Thorsten Schilling
Selmer Center
April 27, 2010
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Introduction The Discovery
Around 1912 . . .
Antiquarian Voynichaquires 30 manuscripts
Among them encipheredmanuscript
Estimated 13th century
Figure: Wilfrid M. Voynich
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Introduction Voynich’s Finding
Voynich’s Finding
18cm × 25cm book
≈ 240 vellum pages
Colored drawings
“Large” portions of text
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Introduction Voynich’s Finding
Plants
Arround 126 drawings ofplants
Text flowing arround
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Introduction Voynich’s Finding
Stars
Diagrams and “star-charts”
Up to 6 pages
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Introduction Voynich’s Finding
Text
≈ 170.000 characters ofunknown script
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Cryptanalysis First Attempts
Attempts to Solve the Manuscript
Voynich provideseverybody interested withreproductionsMany theories of theauthorship
I Roger BaconI John DeeI Leonardo da VinciI Edward Kelly . . .
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Cryptanalysis First Attempts
Micrography
Tiny markings in the text
Additional Substitutionand Permutation
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Cryptanalysis First Attempts
William Romaine Newbold
Lecturer in Philosophy atUniversity of Pennsylvania
Recieves 3 pages fromVoynich in 1919
“Solves” it with themicrography theory
Author: Roger Bacon(1214–1294)Plaintext containsdescriptions about
I MicroscopeI GalaxiesI etc.
But . . .
Figure: William R. Newbold
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Cryptanalysis First Attempts
William Romaine Newbold
Lecturer in Philosophy atUniversity of Pennsylvania
Recieves 3 pages fromVoynich in 1919
“Solves” it with themicrography theory
Author: Roger Bacon(1214–1294)Plaintext containsdescriptions about
I MicroscopeI GalaxiesI etc.
But . . .
Figure: William R. Newbold
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Cryptanalysis First Attempts
William Romaine Newbold
Lecturer in Philosophy atUniversity of Pennsylvania
Recieves 3 pages fromVoynich in 1919
“Solves” it with themicrography theory
Author: Roger Bacon(1214–1294)Plaintext containsdescriptions about
I MicroscopeI GalaxiesI etc.
But . . .
Figure: William R. Newbold
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Cryptanalysis Other Theories
Another Look at the Text
Written from the left to theright
≈ 170.000 glyphs
≈ 35.000 words ofvarying length
20− 30 distinct glyphs
≈ 12 rare characters
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Cryptanalysis Other Theories
More Properties
≈ 10-bit entropy/wordI English/Old-
German/Latin
Letter frequencies“similar” to europeanlanguages
No words > 10 glyphs
Only few 1− 2 glyphwords
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Cryptanalysis Other Theories
More Properties
≈ 10-bit entropy/wordI English/Old-
German/Latin
Letter frequencies“similar” to europeanlanguages
No words > 10 glyphs
Only few 1− 2 glyphwords
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Cryptanalysis Other Theories
Signal Intelligence Agency
Simple monoalphabeticciphers can be excluded
First digitalization (onpunch cards)
War over . . .
Figure: William Friedman
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Cryptanalysis Other Theories
Signal Intelligence Agency
Simple monoalphabeticciphers can be excluded
First digitalization (onpunch cards)
War over . . .
Figure: William Friedman
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Cryptanalysis Other Theories
Polyalphabetic Cipher
Known since 14th century
Cipher discs
Usually destroys thestatistical properties tosome extend
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Cryptanalysis Other Theories
Polyalphabetic Cipher
Known since 14th century
Cipher discs
Usually destroys thestatistical properties tosome extend
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Cryptanalysis Other Theories
Steganography
Cardan Grille
Attributed to GirolamoCardano (1501-1576)
Arbitrarily hard to findsolution
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Cryptanalysis Other Theories
Steganography
Cardan Grille
Attributed to GirolamoCardano (1501-1576)
Arbitrarily hard to findsolution
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Cryptanalysis Other Theories
Exotic Natural or Constructed Language
Jacques Guy:I ThaiI Khmer . . .I Persian example:
Forest Jangal
Plant GiahStar Setare
Invented LanguagesI Lingua Ignota (12th
century)I RoI Codebook
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Cryptanalysis Other Theories
Exotic Natural or Constructed Language
Jacques Guy:I ThaiI Khmer . . .I Persian example:
Forest Jangal
Plant GiahStar Setare
Invented LanguagesI Lingua Ignota (12th
century)I RoI Codebook
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Cryptanalysis Other Theories
Hoax
Fabrication by Voynich
Earlier Fabrication
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Cryptanalysis Other Theories
Hoax
Fabrication by Voynich
Earlier Fabrication
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Facts
Facts
C14 dating (done 2009)between 1404 and 1438Hoax possible but “notvery plausible”
I Vellum at this size wasvery expensive
Beinecke Rare Book andManuscript Library at YaleUniversity
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Facts
Facts
C14 dating (done 2009)between 1404 and 1438Hoax possible but “notvery plausible”
I Vellum at this size wasvery expensive
Beinecke Rare Book andManuscript Library at YaleUniversity
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Conclusion
Conclusion
Author and contentremain unknown (> 600years)
Only certain is the dateTons of material and“bogus”
I “On Alien-Writing”I Esoteric books with
“solutions” etc.
Romanesque Castle
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Conclusion
Conclusion
Author and contentremain unknown (> 600years)
Only certain is the dateTons of material and“bogus”
I “On Alien-Writing”I Esoteric books with
“solutions” etc.
Romanesque Castle
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Conclusion
Conclusion
Author and contentremain unknown (> 600years)
Only certain is the dateTons of material and“bogus”
I “On Alien-Writing”I Esoteric books with
“solutions” etc.
Romanesque Castle
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