Derek’s university, ASU, held a campus wide Cryptography contest, where the students competed to solve a series of ciphers, or codes.
40 students entered, and Derek and a partner took First Prize.
You can see a brief note on it here. Look for “Crypto Rally Recap” a couple of items down.
I have fun solving the simple substitution ciphers in the newspaper, but these were significantly more complicated challenges. I’m afraid he’s out of my league now.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Donna // Jan 9, 2012 at 7:44 pm
We’ve always known Derek was the king of the riddles, so I’m not surprised. Hope he won lots of $$$.
P.S. I though cryptology was the study of handwriting. What’s that called?
2 Daryl // Jan 12, 2012 at 9:27 am
Cryptology is “the science of secure writing”, pretty much synonymous with Cryptography.
Graphology is the pseudoscientific study and analysis of handwriting.
He won a $150 gift card for the campus bookstore.