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From: herman@marlin.UUCP (John W. Herman)
Newsgroups: sci.math,sci.crypt
Subject: Re: Military funding in maths
Message-ID: <844@marlin.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 19-Nov-86 17:46:43 EST
Article-I.D.: marlin.844
Posted: Wed Nov 19 17:46:43 1986
Date-Received: Thu, 20-Nov-86 01:28:08 EST
References: <307@stracs.cs.strath.ac.uk> <2274@mtgzz.UUCP> <344@cartan.Berkeley.EDU> <354@cartan.Berkeley.EDU>
Reply-To: herman@marlin.UUCP (John W. Herman)
Organization: Naval Ocean Systems Center, San Diego
Lines: 31
Xref: mnetor sci.math:220 sci.crypt:55


>In article <344@cartan.Berkeley.EDU> weemba@brahms.BERKELEY.EDU (Matthew P Wiener) writes:
>>In article <2274@mtgzz.UUCP> leeper@mtgzz.UUCP writes:
>>>						    Cryptography did not
>>>turn the tide in WWII,
>>
>>Nonsense.  Cryptography *was* the tide, major battle after battle, from
>>Britain to El Alemain to Ardennes II to Stalingrad to Kursk to Midway to
>>Leyte Gulf.   Read Hinsley et al for starts before spouting off like the
>>above.

>   I agree cryptography and intelligence are of great importance, but I
>think it is ridiculous to claim that the Axis would have won the war if
>they had had better mathematicians (or had better used the ones they had).
>
>   -- David desJardins


Two comments come to mind, namely:

1.  What does "winning the war" mean?  Both Germany and Japan had the 
capability to continue to wage war.  They became convinced that the  
war was not winnable.  It is not always easy to determine the point 
at which a country is defeated.
2.  The outcome of the war was in doubt until the submarine battle in
the Atlantic was won.  Intelligence and cryptography had a great deal
to do with that turning point.  
Matters such as this are subject to a great deal of discussion because
there is only one reality which we can examine.  'What happens if' is
a subject which has appeared in many (mostly poorly done) Science Fiction
novels.