Polish mathematician who helped break Enigma honoured with plaque at Surrey university
Henryk Zygalski taught at the University of Surrey's forerunner without colleagues knowing his wartime role
A Polish mathematician who helped break the Enigma cipher before the Second World War has been honoured with a commemorative plaque at the University of Surrey.
Henryk Zygalski (1908-1978) laid the foundations for Alan Turing's work at Bletchley Park.
After the war, he taught mathematics at Battersea Polytechnic and the University of Surrey for 17 years without his colleagues learning what he had done.
The plaque was revealed on Wednesday 11th November, Poland's National Independence Day.
It was unveiled by Professor Stephen Jarvis, President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Surrey, and Rafał Wiśniewski, Chargé d'Affaires ad interim at the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in London.
Members of Zygalski's family, representatives of the Polish community and historians, including from Bletchley Park, attended.
Professor Jarvis said:
"There is something rather wonderful about knowing that one of the people who helped change the course of the Second World War subsequently spent his days teaching mathematics to students at Surrey, with little indication of the extraordinary life he had led."
"I am delighted that his contribution is now being recognised, and that future generations of students and colleagues walking past the plaque might pause for a moment and wonder about the remarkable life of Henryk Zygalski, mathematics lecturer at the University of Surrey."
How Zygalski helped break Enigma
Zygalski was a mathematician at the Polish Cipher Bureau, where he worked alongside Marian Rejewski and Jerzy Różycki.
The three men worked out how to read messages sent on Germany's Enigma machine in the 1930s.
In 1938, Zygalski devised the Zygalski sheets - large, perforated cards that, when stacked on a light table, showed codebreakers how the machine had been set up.
In 1939, weeks before Germany invaded Poland to start the Second World War, the Polish team shared everything they knew about Enigma with British and French intelligence.
Their work laid the foundations for Alan Turing and his colleagues at Bletchley Park.
Escape to Britain and a quiet academic career
When Poland fell in September 1939, Zygalski escaped through Romania to France, where the Polish codebreakers kept working on Enigma.
After Germany occupied the south of France in 1942, he crossed into Spain, where he was arrested, then reached Portugal.
A British naval vessel took him to Britain in 1943, where he joined the Polish Signals Battalion.
Unwilling to return to a Poland under Soviet control, he stayed in Britain.
He taught mathematics at the Polish University College in London from its founding in 1947.
When Battersea Polytechnic took over the college in 1951, he was one of only eight staff offered posts.
The polytechnic was the forerunner of the University of Surrey, which was established in 1966.