A British algae expert who had an unlikely role in defeating the Germans during the Second World War is once again in the spotlight, thanks to a viral Twitter thread.
The story of Geoffrey Tandy, a biologist who was mistaken for a codebreaker and sent to work with the team of famed cryptographers at Bletchley Park, has become
, who describes herself as a 鈥渟cience communicator and comedian,鈥 re-told Tandy鈥檚 story in the most 2018 way possible: in a dozen tweets accompanied by GIFs.
Let me tell you a story about how a typo helped end World War Two... (thread)
鈥 Florence Schechter (@floschechter)
Schechter鈥檚 history lesson has been re-tweeted and 鈥渓iked鈥 thousands of times. When another Twitter user replied that he doesn鈥檛 even care whether the story is true, Schechter provided links to historical references.
published by the U.K.鈥檚 Natural History Museum, Geoffrey Tandy was a cryptogamist 鈥 鈥渁n expert in non-flowering, spore-reproducing plants like seaweeds, mosses and ferns鈥 鈥 who worked at the Museum for over a decade, starting in 1926.
But during the Second World War, the Ministry of Defence confused his title with a cryptogramist, or a codebreaker. So Tandy, who had enlisted as a volunteer with the Royal Navy Reserves, was sent to Bletchley Park and asked to help crack the code of the German Naval Enigma machine.
The year was 1939. Geoffrey Tandy, a Brit who at the time was working for , signs up to volunteer with the Royal Navy Reserves ().
鈥 Florence Schechter (@floschechter)
The Ministry of Defence () saw his papers and was all like "WOAH! This guy is the best cryptogramist in the world! Send him to THIS INSTANT!"
鈥 Florence Schechter (@floschechter)
They show him the enigma machine and are like "dude, you gotta help us crack it - you're the best cryptogrammist in all of the UK!". And poor Geoff is like "this is super awks, I'm a cryptoGAMMIST not a cryptoGRAMMIST. I'm not a specialist in codes, I'm a specialist in algae..."
鈥 Florence Schechter (@floschechter)
Poor Geoff does nothing for TWO YEARS. Probably sitting on the grass and looking Alan Turing's butt which I assume was da bomb.
鈥 Florence Schechter (@floschechter)
UNTIL 1941.... when the allies torpedoed a German U-boat and managed to salvage a load of documents including a BIGRAM TABLE (!!!) which is like super duper important because they show how to unscramble messages through the enigma machine!
鈥 Florence Schechter (@floschechter)
And that鈥檚 how Tandy finally got to use his biology expertise in a major British intelligence operation. Based on his experience working with wet plant specimens, he knew how to restore the messages written on water-damaged paper.
If it weren't for him, Benedict Cumberbatch's lookalike Alan Turing wouldn't have been able to do his thang. GO TANDY!
鈥 Florence Schechter (@floschechter)
So a big up to scientists in unexpected places. And if anyone ever tells you off for a typo, tell them his story.