“the most mysterious manuscript in the world” · introduction voynich’s finding voynich’s...

“The Most Mysterious Manuscript in the World”

Thorsten Schilling

Selmer Center

April 27, 2010

Thorsten Schilling (Selmer Center) The Voynich Manuscript April 27, 2010 1 / 18

Introduction The Discovery

Around 1912 . . .

Antiquarian Voynichaquires 30 manuscripts

Among them encipheredmanuscript

Estimated 13th century

Figure: Wilfrid M. Voynich

Introduction Voynich’s Finding

Voynich’s Finding

18cm × 25cm book

≈ 240 vellum pages

Colored drawings

“Large” portions of text

Plants

Arround 126 drawings ofplants

Text flowing arround

Diagrams and “star-charts”

Up to 6 pages

≈ 170.000 characters ofunknown script

Cryptanalysis First Attempts

Attempts to Solve the Manuscript

Voynich provideseverybody interested withreproductionsMany theories of theauthorship

I Roger BaconI John DeeI Leonardo da VinciI Edward Kelly . . .

Micrography

Tiny markings in the text

Additional Substitutionand Permutation

William Romaine Newbold

Lecturer in Philosophy atUniversity of Pennsylvania

Recieves 3 pages fromVoynich in 1919

“Solves” it with themicrography theory

Author: Roger Bacon(1214–1294)Plaintext containsdescriptions about

I MicroscopeI GalaxiesI etc.

But . . .

Figure: William R. Newbold

But . . .

Cryptanalysis Other Theories

Another Look at the Text

Written from the left to theright

≈ 170.000 glyphs

≈ 35.000 words ofvarying length

20− 30 distinct glyphs

≈ 12 rare characters

More Properties

≈ 10-bit entropy/wordI English/Old-

German/Latin

Letter frequencies“similar” to europeanlanguages

No words > 10 glyphs

Only few 1− 2 glyphwords

More Properties

≈ 10-bit entropy/wordI English/Old-

German/Latin

Letter frequencies“similar” to europeanlanguages

No words > 10 glyphs

Only few 1− 2 glyphwords

Signal Intelligence Agency

Simple monoalphabeticciphers can be excluded

First digitalization (onpunch cards)

War over . . .

Figure: William Friedman

Signal Intelligence Agency

Simple monoalphabeticciphers can be excluded

First digitalization (onpunch cards)

War over . . .

Figure: William Friedman

Polyalphabetic Cipher

Known since 14th century

Cipher discs

Usually destroys thestatistical properties tosome extend

Polyalphabetic Cipher

Known since 14th century

Cipher discs

Usually destroys thestatistical properties tosome extend

Steganography

Cardan Grille

Attributed to GirolamoCardano (1501-1576)

Arbitrarily hard to findsolution

Steganography

Cardan Grille

Attributed to GirolamoCardano (1501-1576)

Arbitrarily hard to findsolution

Exotic Natural or Constructed Language

Jacques Guy:I ThaiI Khmer . . .I Persian example:

Forest Jangal

Plant GiahStar Setare

Invented LanguagesI Lingua Ignota (12th

century)I RoI Codebook

Exotic Natural or Constructed Language

Jacques Guy:I ThaiI Khmer . . .I Persian example:

Forest Jangal

Plant GiahStar Setare

Invented LanguagesI Lingua Ignota (12th

century)I RoI Codebook

Fabrication by Voynich

Earlier Fabrication

Fabrication by Voynich

Earlier Fabrication

C14 dating (done 2009)between 1404 and 1438Hoax possible but “notvery plausible”

I Vellum at this size wasvery expensive

Beinecke Rare Book andManuscript Library at YaleUniversity

C14 dating (done 2009)between 1404 and 1438Hoax possible but “notvery plausible”

I Vellum at this size wasvery expensive

Beinecke Rare Book andManuscript Library at YaleUniversity

Conclusion

Author and contentremain unknown (> 600years)

Only certain is the dateTons of material and“bogus”

I “On Alien-Writing”I Esoteric books with

“solutions” etc.

Romanesque Castle

Conclusion

Romanesque Castle

Conclusion

Romanesque Castle

“the most mysterious manuscript in the world” · introduction voynich’s finding voynich’s...

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