The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography

Simon Singh is a citizen of the United Kingdom and is a theoretical physicist best known for his popularizing works in fields related primarily to mathematics, cosmology, and cryptography. His first book was entitled Fermat’s Last Theorem, detailing the history of the mathematical riddle and formula and its eventual solution. Singh went on to publish four other titles: The Code Book in 1999, Big Bang in 2004, Trick or Treatment?: Alternative Medicine on Trial in 2008, and The Simpsons and Their Mathematical Secrets in 2013. In addition to his prolific work as an author, Singh has worked on numerous documentary specials on topics related to, and concurrent with, his books.

Singh was born in 1964, and his parents—Sikh Indians from Punjab—had emigrated to the United Kingdom fourteen years previously in 1950. The youngest of three sons, Simon grew up in Southwest England, eventually going on to study physics at the Imperial College of London. After his undergraduate studies, Simon completed a doctorate in particle physics at Cambridge in Emmanuel College, defending his dissertation in 1991. During his doctoral work, Singh was employed by the BBC and contributed to numerous television programs; it was during this time that Singh was able to combine his love of science and mathematics by creating a show entitled Theatre of Science, synthesizing his academic background with a popular approach that clarified high-level subjects of science and math for people of all ages.

Tangential to his work as a researcher and popular academic, Singh has been involved in a number of controversies surrounding alternative medicines and approaches to healthcare. In 2006, he was part of a BBC investigation on homeopathy and homeopathic practices. In 2008, he was the target of a highly publicized defamation and libel lawsuit issued by the British Chiropractic Association. He was targeted by them over a newspaper column he had published criticizing the largely unfounded claims by practitioners of chiropractic medicine, which tended to portray the field as a kind of panacea. Eventually, the suit was dropped, and the case was part of legal reforms in the area of defamation law.

Singh’s unique background as a highly trained and competent academic in the field of science and mathematics, combined with his training and interest in popular media, make him one of the best recent figures to disseminate specialized knowledge to a popular audience. Writing The Code Book is a perfect example of Singh’s signature style, combining a detailed history of the science of cryptography with relevant stories and mathematical details in an accessible way for the general reader.