Elizabeth Friedman’s first graduating class of American code breakers in WWI. The photo itself is a cypher which men facing towards the camera and away from the camera creating a binary code, 1’s and 0’s, spelling “Knowledge is Power” (1918) [1200×240]

The first team of American codebreakers assembled in response to radio transmitted cyphers by the Central Powers. Led by Elizabeth Friedman and her husband William Friedman (front center left and second from left in black), their first graduating class photo was a cypher in itself. Men looking towards the camera and the men looking away create a binary cypher spelling “Knowledge is Power”. Their work created a massive intelligence advantage on the side of the allies and exposed a massive Nazi spy ring in South America