Skip Navigation

The fascinating story of Elizebeth Smith Friedman

Meet Elizebeth Friedman, the pioneering cryptanalyst who took down Al Capone and a Nazi spy ring.

  • Fred Vigeant
William F. Friedman and Elizebeth S. Friedman on the grounds of Riverbank Laboratories in Geneva, Illinois. 1917.

 Courtesy of George C. Marshall Foundation Library

William F. Friedman and Elizebeth S. Friedman on the grounds of Riverbank Laboratories in Geneva, Illinois. 1917.

Watch The Codebreaker on American Experience Monday, January 11 at 9:00pm on WITF. You can stream WITF TV live on our website and through the PBS Video app on Roku, Apple TV and iPhone and Android smartphones. The program is also available on-demand through the PBS Video app.

 


Based on the book The Woman Who Smashed Codes: A True Story of Love, Spies, and the Unlikely Heroine Who Outwitted America’s Enemies, The Codebreaker reveals the fascinating story of Elizebeth Smith Friedman, the groundbreaking cryptanalyst whose painstaking work to decode thousands of messages for the U.S. government would send infamous gangsters to prison in the 1920s and bring down a massive, near-invisible Nazi spy ring in WWII.

Her remarkable contributions to the science of cryptology would come to light decades after her death, when secret government files were unsealed. Together with her husband, the legendary cryptographer William Friedman, Elizebeth helped develop the codebreaking methods that laid the foundation for modern codebreaking today.

Watch The Codebreaker on American Experience Monday January 11 at 9:00pm on WITF. You can now watch WITF TV live through our new webstream available through our website and through the PBS Video app on Roku, Apple TV and iPhone and Andriod smart phones. The program is also available on-demand through the PBS Video app.

Support for WITF is provided by:

Become a WITF sponsor today »

Support for WITF is provided by:

Become a WITF sponsor today »

Up Next
Programs

Exploring America through PBS American Portrait