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Professor Michael Sternberg Head of Bioinformatics Imperial College London

Cracking the Code of Life. Professor Michael Sternberg Head of Bioinformatics Imperial College London. Why I am here?. Bring a working scientist into a school A Royal Society Partnership Award to Mathilda Marks-Kennedy School

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Professor Michael Sternberg Head of Bioinformatics Imperial College London

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  1. Cracking the Code of Life Professor Michael Sternberg Head of Bioinformatics Imperial College London

  2. Why I am here? • Bring a working scientist into a school • A Royal Society Partnership Award to Mathilda Marks-Kennedy School • The Royal Society was set up in 1660 to help science and has been very important ever since.

  3. Imperial College London Science Museum

  4. How we work My team just use computers to crack the code of biology Many scientists work in laboratories

  5. What we will do • Today • Writing in code • How people at Bletchley Park broke the German codes during World War II • How computers were invented to help crack codes • Next week • Bletchley Park Visit • Two weeks time • How Biology uses codes

  6. Hiding what you write • Here is a way to send a secret message • Write with a special pen on paper • Give your message to your friend • Your friend has a special torch and can read the message.

  7. But…. • If someone else gets the paper, they could also a the special torch and read your message!!! • Not the best idea!!!

  8. Sending a message in code 1) First two people meet and agree on the code

  9. Sending a message in code 2) - The first person can then write the message in code and send it to the second person

  10. Sending a message in code 3) The second person gets the message and then changes the code back to the message. Changing the code back is called ‘deciphering’.

  11. Can you suggest different codes?

  12. One code is to shift the letters • Message Alphabet: abcdefgh…xyz • Code Alphabet: ABCDEFGH…XYZ

  13. One code is to shift the letters • Message Alphabet: abcdefgh…xyz • Code Alphabet: ZABCDEFGH…XY

  14. One code is to shift the letters • Message Alphabet: abcdefgh…xyz • Code Alphabet: YZABCDEFGH…X

  15. Code wheel Letter in message Letter in code

  16. Sending a message in code First two people meet and agree on the code Let’s use the shift code and when the real letter is ‘a’ the code will be ‘Y’

  17. Sending a message in code 2) - The first person can then write the message in code and send it to the second person Message : hello Code: : FCJJM

  18. Sending a message in code 3) The second person gets the message and then changes the code back to the message. Changing the code back is called ‘deciphering’. Code: :FCJJM Message : hello

  19. Now you have a go

  20. Can someone else crack this code? Code:L ORYH LFH FUHDP Message:

  21. Can someone else crack this code? Code:L ORYH LFH FUHDP Message: a

  22. Can someone else crack this code? Code:L ORYH LFH FUHDP Message: adgns auw ujwse

  23. Can someone else crack this code? Code:L ORYH LFH FUHDP Message:

  24. Can someone else crack this code? Code:L ORYH LFH FUHDP Message: i

  25. Can someone else crack this code? Code:L ORYH LFH FUHDP Message: i love ice cream

  26. Can someone else crack this code? Code:LORYHLFHFUHDP in the code there are 3H, 2F, 2L most common letters in ENGLISH is E often used are: A, H, I, N,O,R,T

  27. Can someone else crack this code? Code:LORYHLFHFUHDP Message: i?o?ei?e?rea?

  28. Can someone else crack this code? Code:LORYHLFHFUHDP Message: iloveicecream

  29. Better Codes Scramble up alphabet Message Alphabet: abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz Code Alphabet: ZEGNALFDROHTUCBPJIMKSQWVYX But still can be cracked by guessing that code letters that are used often are for letters like E in English

  30. The Enigma Machine • In World War II, the Germans used a machine called the Enigma Machine to make very clever codes • The Enigma Machine used several wheels to scramble up the message

  31. The Enigma Machine Wheels Coded letters light up Type in message

  32. Bletchley Park These codes were cracked here in World War II

  33. Used wheels called Bombes First they built a machine with wheels and lights called a ‘Bombe’.

  34. Computer called Colossus Later they built the very first computer which was called ‘Colossus’.

  35. Codes and Computers • We have learnt: • shifting or scrambling the alphabet makes codes • codes can be cracked by hard work • the first computer was built by the British to crack the Enigma code in World War II.

  36. Thanks to.... • Mrs Ben Ze’ev for suggesting this partnership • The Royal Society for providing funds • Dr Suhail Islam (Imperial College London ) for the wheels and the movie • My daughter for advice on what I should say and how I should make the slides.

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