Comments on: The Fermilab Shoemaker Cryptogram

By: Adam Hawkins

Adam Hawkins — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 19:51:00 +0000

It seems most logical to me that the extra “S” in base links up with the FC in the last line of the second section. From my internet research, I believe that Frank Shoemaker’s middle initial is C (I could be mistaken though). So the middle section may be signed with initials FCS.

I also found it interesting that the middle section of the cipher generally uses the letters B through F. I believe that each letter B through F possibly represents a vowel (For example: B=O; C=E; D=I; E=U; and F=A) and each number 1 through 9 represent a consonant. I think the odd numbers are all in the run of letters Q through W. For example, 2=B; 3=T; 4=G; 5=R; 6=N; 7=W; 8=L; 9=S. The second and third lines of the middle section are linked to the letters and numbers in some fashion, and may be the meaningless “noise” referred to in the first section. However, I believe they may have some collateral function in the cipher. The first 2 letters of the middle section may be reversed (IF instead of FI).

I am no physicist or even a scientist, but I believe the middle section is simply a humorous statement. Perhaps something that Frank Shoemaker did when he was unhappy that Fermilab was not getting enough news coverage.

By: dan hall

dan hall — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 06:04:19 +0000

sine waves are easy when you know the frequency 28,000 decibills light can e bent and thought can be contained in a electro manetic field that’s all i only read hexidecimal a1 a2 a3 a4 a5 a6 a7

By: Piedmont

Piedmont — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 18:56:56 +0000

The way the top part is is written is a clue. The person who wrote it made an effort to make columns, 47 of them. The columns are at a slight slant. I do not see an effort to do that in the bottom part, not much of an effort anyway. I think there are multiple messages in the top.
I have also noticed that if the image is stretched 2x horizontaly, the top part could make letters, still jumbled, but someone look at that.
Someone figure this out please!

By: Piedmont

Piedmont — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 15:00:14 +0000

I think there is more to the top and bottom. The “Frank would call…noise” part is just that– Noise. There has to be more to than that. That was way tooooo easy to figure out.

By: Adam

Adam — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 06:31:38 +0000

Carl, my first thoughts were “music” and “french”.

The other thing Im thinking is that it hints about a code for the center. 24 characters should be brute forceable, but I always dread the codes that are encoded using a foreign language. This makes me think that enough of the characters repeat, but it could be in french. Or, it could be based on a musical scale and then in french…

I dont know, actually…

By: Sanjay Patel

Sanjay Patel — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 22:13:25 +0000

I think there is far more to the middle than people are concluding, especially on the sFC part (I doubt it’s as easy as comparing the symbol and writing the corresponding letter).

Why are ‘1′ and ‘A’ missing from the middle? Why use the symbol, lower case phi I believe, and does it have anything to do with the upper case phi above the ‘7′?

By: Joe Krahn

Joe Krahn — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 22:38:08 +0000

I think that the middle section contains hexadecimal numbers, and that the symbols above them are just a distraction. The First sentence about noise is a hint about the symbols, and the last sentence is a hint about the hexadecimal numbers leading to an employee ID, and not a text message. The puzzle is what algorithm to use to reduce 12 base-16 digits to an employee number.

By: Vibi

Vibi — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 04:37:52 +0000

Well about the “SFC” line , it could be an ancronym for ‘Sequential Function Chart’, a programming language used in PLC’s. According to John, frank shoemaker was good with electronics and hardware. So my guess would be that the middle section if decoded and used in PLC’s might generate noise given that the top code actually means what it is supposed to.
Anyways i tried some different approach and added the lines in a group of 3. for eg. the first 3 lines added gives 8..the second also gives 8 and so on…to my surprise each digit is in the middle section. dont known what it means yet…but its a good pasetime.

By: Jason Sidabras » Blog Archive » Fermilab Encrypted Letter

Jason Sidabras » Blog Archive » Fermilab Encrypted Letter — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 22:58:38 +0000

[…] number starts with V for “visitor” i.e. grad students or N for others) This is from a guy who worked with Frank Shoemaker and is still a V there. They are up to 5 digits now. But i think this is a 4 digit or less […]

By: Carl Brannen

Carl Brannen — Wed, 28 May 2008 00:40:14 +0000

The words “base” and “bass” are related words in English and they are easy to confuse. Both mean low, among other things. “Bass” is used in music as an adjective for a musical instrument. The French spelling of bass is basse. I would think it would be easy to confuse base with basse for someone who is French, especially if they are involved in music in the US where the word basse appears.

It turns out that Pierre Piroue was educated in Geneva, in the French speaking part of Switzerland. And he teaches music.

The author of the letter encrypts his signature for a reason, presumably plausible deniabliity. So having someone deny being the author is not necessarily proof that he is not the author. I think the bullk of the evidence is in favor of Piroue as having written the message. I would presume it has to do with the failure to announce the Higgs and that somewhere there is an email message that has a check ID of that 24-digit hex sequence.