Lester S. Hill

Lester S. Hill (1891–1961) was an American mathematician and educator who was interested in applications of mathematics to communications. He received a bachelor's degree from Columbia College (1911) and a Ph.D. from Yale University (1926). He taught at the University of Montana, Princeton University, the University of Maine, Yale University, and Hunter College. Among his notable contributions was the Hill cipher. He also developed methods for detecting errors in telegraphed code numbers and wrote two books.

Dr. Lester S. Hill
Lester S. Hill on May 16, 1956
Born	Lester Sanders Hil[1] (1891-01-18)January 18, 1891 New York City
Died	January 9, 1961(1961-01-09) (aged 69)[2][3] Bronxville, New York[2]
Nationality	American
Occupation	mathematician and cryptographer
Known for	the Hill cipher (1929)
Notable work	Cryptography in an Algebraic Alphabet (1929)[4]

References

1. Christensen, Chris (2014). "Lester Hill Revisited". Cryptologia (38(4)): 300–301. doi:10.1080/01611194.2014.915260. Retrieved November 9, 2018 – via ResearchGate.
2. "Dr. Lester S. Hill". Chicago Tribune. January 10, 1961. p. 10. Dr. Lester S. Hill, 70, mathematician and cryptographer, died today in Lawrence hospital after a long illness. Hill was commended for application, of higher mathematics to the construction of secret codes.
3. "LESTER HILL DIES; A MATHEMATICIAN; Ex-Hunter Professor Was 70 -- Cryptographer Cited for Service to U. S." The New York Times. January 10, 1961. Retrieved November 9, 2018.(subscription required)
4. Dooley, John (January 1, 2018). "10.1 The Shoulders of Giants: Friedman, Hill, and Shannon". History of Cryptography and Cryptanalysis: Codes, Ciphers, and Their Algorithms. Springer. p. 167. ISBN 978-3-319-90442-9 – via Google Books.

• Rosen, Kenneth (2005). Elementary Number Theory and its Applications, fifth edition, Addison-Wesley, p. 292.