{"id":2123,"date":"2026-02-01T16:50:52","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T16:50:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.marriages.me.uk\/hugh\/?page_id=2123"},"modified":"2026-02-10T17:15:35","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T17:15:35","slug":"zygalski","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.marriages.me.uk\/hugh\/career\/zygalski\/","title":{"rendered":"Henryk Zygalski 1908-1978"},"content":{"rendered":"

Henryk Micha\u0142 Zygalski MPhil, MSc, DSc was a member of the Polish Cipher Bureau. He worked with Marian Rejewski and Jerzy R\u00f3\u017cycki to break the Enigma codes and lay the foundation for the work of Alan Turing and others at Bletchley Park. Their wartime achievements were the result of mathematical brilliance and outstanding personal bravery. Henryk Zygalski was one of the first mathematics lecturers at the University of Surrey.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

1908\u00a0 Born on 15 July in Posen, then part of the German Empire, now Pozna\u0144.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

1918\u00a0 Poland gains independence from Germany.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

1923\u00a0 Arthur Scherbius launches prototype Enigma machine.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

1926\u00a0 Undergraduate at Pozna\u0144 University. Poland starts intercepting German Enigma messages.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

1928\u00a0 Marian Rejewski, Jerzy R\u00f3\u017cycki and Henryk Zygalski selected for code-breaking course: all were also fluent in German.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

1931\u00a0 Graduates with MPhil and all three work for Polish Cipher Bureau.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

1932\u00a0 Marian Rejewski reverse-engineers the Enigma machine, the first step towards decrypting Enigma messages.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

1938\u00a0 Invents <\/span><\/span><\/span>Zygalski sheets<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span> to predict Enigma machine settings.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

1939\u00a0 July: Polish cryptanalysts meet with British and French allies at Pyry near Warsaw to share information and expertise. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

1939\u00a0 September: As the German army approaches Poland, the three cryptanalysts leave for France, via Romania and Italy.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

1939\u00a0 October: take up deciphering Enigma near Paris.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

1940\u00a0 Turing meets with Rejewski, R\u00f3\u017cycki and Zygalski in Paris. After France is invaded, the Poles fly to North Africa to get false identities.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

1942\u00a0 The Polish cryptanalysts return to Uz\u00e8s, in Vichy France but R\u00f3\u017cycki is drowned <\/span><\/span><\/span>en route. <\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span>German army occupies southern France<\/span><\/span><\/span>.<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

1943\u00a0 Rejewski and Zygalski escape to Spain; they are robbed and imprisoned but released. They cross to Portugal to board a British naval vessel, <\/span><\/span><\/span>MT Scottish<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span>, in Lisbon for Gibraltar. They fly to the UK and join the Polish Signals Battalion at Boxmoor, near Hemel Hempstead. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

1945\u00a0 World War II ends in Europe.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

1947\u00a0 Polish University College established in Knightsbridge and Putney. Zygalski is appointed to teach mathematics.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

1949\u00a0 Described by his tutor as \u201cquite a good mathematician \u201c. Becomes a British citizen.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

1950\u00a0 Zygalski is awarded London University MSc.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

1951\u00a0 Battersea Polytechnic takes over Putney Buildings.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

1954\u00a0 Death of Alan Turing.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

1966\u00a0 Battersea Polytechnic becomes the University of Surrey and moves to Guildford.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

1968\u00a0 Zygalski suffers a stroke and retires. His speech is impaired.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

1973\u00a0 Evidence begins to emerge in Poland of involvement in code-breaking of Rejewski, R\u00f3\u017cycki and Zygalski.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

1974\u00a0 Role of Bletchley Park becomes known for the first time.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

1977\u00a0 Awarded DSc <\/span><\/span><\/span>Honoris Causa <\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span>by the Polish University Abroad.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

1978\u00a0 Dies in Liss, Hampshire on 30 August and is <\/span><\/span><\/span>cremated<\/span><\/span><\/span> <\/b>in Chichester.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

2000\u00a0 With Rejewski and R\u00f3\u017cycki, awarded <\/span><\/span><\/span>Grand Cross of the Order of <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>Polonia Restituta<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

2002\u00a0 Memorial to Rejewski, R\u00f3\u017cycki and Zygalski unveiled at Bletchley Park.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

2007\u00a0 Monument to Rejewski, R\u00f3\u017cycki and Zygalski unveiled in Pozna\u0144 Castle.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

2014\u00a0 Rejewski, R\u00f3\u017cycki and Zygalski given <\/span><\/span><\/span>Milestone Award<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span> by <\/span><\/span><\/span>Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

2018\u00a0 Memorial stone to Zygalski unveiled in Chichester Crematorium by the Polish Ambassador and Dr Jeremy Russell (Zygalski\u2019s nephew).<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

2026\u00a0 Launch of Polish Navy signal intelligence ship <\/span><\/span><\/span>ORP Henryk Zygalski.<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

2026\u00a0 Zygalski\u2019s lecture theatre named at the University of Surrey.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Henryk Micha\u0142 Zygalski MPhil, MSc, DSc was a member of the Polish Cipher Bureau. He worked with Marian Rejewski and Jerzy R\u00f3\u017cycki to break the Enigma codes and lay the foundation for the work of Alan Turing and others at Bletchley Park. Their wartime achievements were the result of mathematical brilliance and outstanding personal bravery. Henryk Zygalski was one of the first mathematics lecturers at the University of Surrey. 1908\u00a0 Born on 15 July in Posen, then part of the…<\/p>\n

read moreHenryk Zygalski 1908-1978<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":123,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2123","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","entry"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marriages.me.uk\/hugh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marriages.me.uk\/hugh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marriages.me.uk\/hugh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marriages.me.uk\/hugh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marriages.me.uk\/hugh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2123"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.marriages.me.uk\/hugh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2123\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2143,"href":"https:\/\/www.marriages.me.uk\/hugh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2123\/revisions\/2143"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marriages.me.uk\/hugh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marriages.me.uk\/hugh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}