Zygalski was born on 15 July 1908 in
Posen,
German Empire (now Poznań,
Poland). He was, from September 1932, a civilian
cryptologist with the
Polish General Staff's
Biuro Szyfrów (Cipher Bureau), housed in the
Saxon Palace in
Warsaw. He worked there with fellow
Poznań University alumni and Cipher Bureau cryptology-course graduates
Marian Rejewski and
Jerzy Różycki. Together they developed methods and equipment for breaking Enigma messages. In late 1938, in response to growing complexities in German encryption procedures, Zygalski designed the "
perforated sheets," also known as "
Zygalski sheets," a manual device for finding Enigma settings. This scheme, like the earlier "
card catalog," was independent of the number of connections being used in the Enigma's plugboard, or commutator. After the war, he remained in exile in the
United Kingdom and worked, until his retirement, as a lecturer in mathematical statistics at the
University of Surrey. During this period he was prevented by the
Official Secrets Act from speaking of his achievements in
cryptology. He died on 30 August 1978 in
Liss,
England. He was cremated and his ashes taken to
London. ==Recognition==