About Me

I'm the William and Marilyn Ingersoll Professor Emeritus of Computer Science at Knox College in Galesburg, IL. (That means I'm retired.) I'm married to Diane (37 years and counting!), we have a 35-year old son, four (unfortunately deceased) cats (in urns), two very live and rambunctious young cats, a house (no mortgage!) and I've got degrees in Math, CS, and EE. I've been in the Midwest USA for the last 40 years or so, but grew up in New York. In my spare time I read, write, cook, putter around the house, walk (I used to run, but arthritis is a bitch), do a bit of woodworking, make beer, and try to digest all things Macintosh (and recently, iOS and Android). I'm also learning to build robots using Raspberry Pi and Arduino.

My research interests include the history of cryptology, the uses of cryptology in fiction (see the Crypto Fiction link above!), computer security, computer science education, and software development in small teams.

I worked in the computer industry for over 16 years and I was a faculty member for about 24 years total. Teaching and doing research was much more fun than working for a living and I'm hoping that writing for a living will be just as much fun. My latest cryptology history book "The Gambler and the Scholars" came out in April 2023. A second edition of my History of Cryptography and Cryptanalysis book is due out in November 2024.