“Secrets” Exhibition Reveals Hidden History of Trust and Cryptography
By OBIOMA TORI
FROM Julius Caesar’s ancient ciphers to the encryption codes that shaped World War II and the algorithms protecting today’s online banking, secrecy has always been at the heart of human survival and trust. At the 12th Heidelberg Laureate Forum (HLF) in Germany, this history came alive through the “Secrets Exhibition,” an interactive showcase blending cryptography, trust, and mathematics.
Hosted at the Mathematics Information Station (MAINS) in Heidelberg’s historic Senate Hall, the exhibition—developed by Mathematikum Gießen—invited participants to experience the personal and technical sides of secrecy. Visitors tested their password memory, solved riddles to measure how well they knew their partners, and uncovered hidden medieval images with mirrors.
Volker Gaibler, HLF’s Head of Outreach, explained that secrecy is more than concealment. “Secrets are about deciding who you trust, when, and with what kind of knowledge,” he said.
The exhibition charted cryptography’s milestones: decoding Caesar’s simple substitution, experimenting with Jefferson’s wheel cipher, and inspecting a rare SG41Z encryption machine built in 1941 as Germany’s alternative to the Enigma. These wartime devices, Gaibler noted, changed history when Allied cryptographers cracked their codes—reshaping the war’s outcome.
Yet secrecy is not only a story of war. Today, mathematically proven encryption powers digital privacy, online payments, and secure communication. “Modern cryptography has moved beyond hope. We can now prove how long it would take to break an encryption—whether a year or a million years,” Gaibler said.
Adding a creative layer, French mathematician Pierre Berger contributed simulations of “wild dynamics,” merging mathematics and art to help visitors see the complexity of advanced research.
Ultimately, the “Secrets Exhibition” underscored how mathematics, trust, and secrecy have shaped human history—and continue to secure our digital future.
