Zygalski sheets: Polish codebreaking and the role of reconstruction in the Top Secret exhibition at the Science Museum

Abstract

The Top Secret: From ciphers to cyber security exhibition at various Science Museum Group sites from 2019 to 2022 explored the remarkable, little-known world of codebreaking, ciphers and secret communications from the trenches of the First World War to cyber security today. At the heart of the exhibition was the personal and technological story of codebreaking at Bletchley Park, the British centre for codebreaking and cryptanalysis during the Second World War, as well an acknowledgement of the vital pre-war contribution of the Polish Cipher Bureau.