The Da Vinci Code: Use of Fibonacci Sequences, Golden Ratio and Cryptography

1
The Da Vinci Code Use of Fibonacci Sequences,
Golden Ratio and Cryptography

• A Nicolet College Library
• Literature Lecture Series
• presentation by
• Gary Britton
• Emeritus Professor of Mathematics
• UW-Washington County
• April 16, 2009

2
The Da Vinci Code book

• Author Dan Brown
• Published in March 2003
• 166 weeks on NY Times Best Seller List
• Over 60 million copies sold
• Paperback released March 2006

3
The Da Vinci Code movie

• Released May 2006
• Starred Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou
• Grossed 77 million opening weekend
• 2nd highest grossing movie of 2006
• Over 750 million world wide
• Available on DVD

4
Key characters

• Robert Langdon, Professor of Religious Symbology,
  Harvard University
• Jacques Sauniere, Curator, The Louvre Museum
• Bezu Fache, Captain, Direction Centrale Police
  Judiciare (DCPJ), approximately the French
  equivalent of the FBI
• Sophie Neveu, DCPJ cryptographer and Jacques
  Saunieres granddaughter
• Andre Vernet, president of the Paris branch of
  the Depository Bank of Zurich
• Sir Leigh Teabing, British religious historian
  living near Versailles, France

5
Descriptive excerpts from book

• Captain Bezu Fache carried himself like an angry
  ox, with his wide shoulders thrown back and his
  chin tucked hard into his chest. His dark hair
  was slicked back with oil, accentuating an
  arrow-like widows peak that divided his jutting
  brow and preceded him like the prow of a
  battleship. As he advanced, his dark eyes seemed
  to scorch the earth before him, radiating a fiery
  clarity that forecast his reputation for
  unblinking severity in all matters. (opening
  paragraph of Chapter 4)
• Langdon turned to see a young woman approaching.
  She was moving down the corridor toward them
  with long, fluid strides a haunting certainty to
  her gait. Dressed casually in a knee-length,
  cream-colored Irish sweater over black leggings,
  she was attractive and looked to be about thirty.
  Her thick burgundy hair fell unstyled to her
  shoulders, framing the warmth of her face.
  Unlike the waifish, cookie-cutter blondes that
  adorned Harvard dorm room walls, this woman was
  healthy with an unembellished beauty and
  genuineness that radiated a striking personal
  confidence. (second page of Chapter 9)

6
Other books by Dan Brown

• Angels and Demons, July 2001
• Deception Point, December 2002
• Illuminati, November 2003
• Digital Fortress, December 2003
• The Solomon Key (anticipated title), Originally
  planned release in March 2007, now May 2009?
  History of Freemasonry and the links between it,
  founding fathers, and birth of the United States?

7
Angels and Demons movie

• May 15, 2009 release date
• Directed by Ron Howard
• Starring Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon
• Actually a prequel to The Da Vinci Code

8
Example of commercial products inspired by the
novel
9
Several commercial products related to The Da
Vinci Code

• Cryptex security boxes at http//www.cryptex.org/h
  _gallery.htm.
• The Da Vinci Quest board game, The Movie Game
  Inc., www.triviainatrunk.com.
• Cracking the Da Vinci Code Day Calendar 2006,
  Barnes Nobel, 2005. (material from Cracking
  the Da Vinci Code by Simon Cox. See excerpts on
  several slides at the end of the presentation if
  time.)

10
Samples from Cracking the Da Vinci Code Day
Calendar 2006

• The Golden Rectangle is one in which the sides
  are in proportion of the Golden Ratio in other
  words, the longer side is 1.618 times longer than
  the shorter side. Aesthetically pleasing, it is
  found throughout world art and culture. Leonardo
  da Vincis drawing of the Vitruvian Man has the
  outlines of a Golden Rectangle based on the head,
  one on the torso, and another over the legs.
  April 14

11
An example from the commercial marketplace.

• A Borders Books web site search on The Da Vinci
  Code yielded
• 86 items on 12/27/05,
• 103 items on 4/18/06,
• 137 items on 10/18/06,
• 172 items on 11/14/06.
• 84 items on 4/16/09.
• (at one time included such things as a CD called
  The Diet Code Revolutionary Weight Loss
  Secrets from Da Vinci and the Golden Ratio by
  Lanzalotta, Stephen.)

12
Overview of todays talk

• Introductory remarks and key characters
• Clues from the opening murder scene
• Fibonacci sequence
• Golden ratio
• Anagram messages
• Passwords and the Fundamental Principle of
  Counting
• Mirror messages
• Cryptology and coded messages
• Websites and references
• Questions and answers

13
Clues found at the opening murder scene of the
novel

• Jacques Sauniere had removed his clothes, placed
  his body like a snow angel, drawn circular arcs
  with his arms and traced, in blood, a pentacle
  (see next slide), centered on his navel.
• The following message was written on the floor
  beside the body.
• 13-3-2-21-1-1-8-5O, Draconian Devil!Oh, lame
  saint!

14
(No Transcript)
15

• To try to determine if this message has any coded
  meaning, first consider just the numbers.
• 13-3-2-21-1-1-8-5
• As a start, lets arrange them numerically.

16
2
21
1
1
8
5
13
3
17
(No Transcript)
18
Sweat bee parents

• A male sweat bee has only a female parent.
• (i.e. hatches from an unfertilized egg)

19
Sweat bee parents

• A female sweat bee has a male and female parent.
  (i.e. hatches from a fertilized egg)

20
of female ancestors in each generation for a
male sweat bee. (read up from M)

• FMFFMFMFFMFFMFMFFMFMF 13
• F MF F MF MF F MF F M 8
• F M F F M F M F 5
• F M F F M 3
• F M F 2
• F M 1
• F 1
• M

21
of female ancestors in each generation for a
female sweat bee. (read up from F)

• FMFFMFMFFMFFMFMFFMFMF 13
• F MF F MF MF F MF F M 8
• F M F F M F M F 5
• F M F F M 3
• F M F 2
• F M 1
• F

22
Ratio of female to male ancestors in each
generation for sweat bees
23
Fibonacci sequence appears in other places.

• Construct a spiral based on the inscribing
  quarter-circle arcs in squares of size
  1,1,2,3,5,8,13,
• The resulting spiral appears in the shell of the
  chambered nautilus (mollusk of the So. Pacific
  Ocean), the placement of leaves on some plants,
  the hexagonal scales of a pineapple and the seeds
  in the head of a sunflower.

24
(No Transcript)
25
Chambered nautilus
26
Seeds in the head of a sunflower
27
Divine Proportion

• Divide a line so the ratio of the line to the
  longer segment equals the ratio of the longer
  segment to the shorter. In the line above, C
  divides AB in such segments. The number is
  called the Golden Ratio and is 1.618033989. or
  approximately 1.62 as in the diagram.

28
F

• The divine proportion is denoted by the Greek
  letter phi. (though Dan Brown chooses not to use
  the symbol for any of his frequent references to
  the number)
• The exact value is (1v5)/2.
• Also called the golden ratio or golden section.
• The ratio of successive numbers in the Fibonacci
  sequence approaches F.

29
F (continued)

• In the book Langdon recalls his lecture about PHI
  for his Symbolism in Art class, where he
  references many appearances of the golden ratio
  in art, architecture, music and in the pentagram.
  (Recall the pentagram that Sauniere traced on
  his body. See next slide.)
• In Technical Analysis of stock and commodity
  prices F -1 and (F-1)2 are used to determine
  potential support, resistance and price levels.
  Ross, p. 63

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(No Transcript)
31
Rectangles with (almost) golden ratio dimensions.
(red, , blue, )
32
13-3-2-21-1-1-8-51-1-2-3-5-8-13-21O, Draconian
Devil!Oh, lame saint!

• Assuming the text lines are also anagrams, lets
  try to rearrange the letters into a meaningful
  message for Langdon and Neveu one line at a time.

33
Anagrams for the audience

• Each line below is a separate anagram of
  something well known to you. Ignore spaces.
• ELECT LOGIC LEON
•  
• AS DEER WHIRL INN

34
O
D
R
A
C
O
N
I
A
N
D
E
V
I
L
When decrypting a message we usually delete all
spaces and punctuation.
35
O
D
R
A
C
O
N
I
A
N
D
E
V
I
L
36
Partially decoded message on museum floor

• 1-1-2-3-5-8-13-21
• LEONARDO DA VINCI
• OH, LAME SAINT!

37
O
H
L
A
M
E
S
A
I
N
T
38
Complete decoded message from Jacques Sauniere.

• 1-1-2-3-5-8-13-21
• LEONARDO DA VINCI
• THE MONA LISA

39
Decoded anagrams for the audience

• ELECT LOGIC LEON
• AS DEER WHIRL INN
• Nicolet College
• Rhinelander Wis

40
SO DARK THE CON OF MAN

• Message written by Sauniere on the glass of the
  Mona Lisa.

41
S
O
D
A
R
K
T
H
E
C
N
O
F
M
A
N
O
42
Decoded message written on the glass of the Mona
Lisa.

• Madonna of the Rocks

43
Madonna of the Rocks leads to

• Gold electronic key with 24 Rue Haxo written on
  it.
• Escape from the Louvre.
• Wild chase through Paris.
• Paris branch of Depository Bank of Zurich. (see
  Google search web site on next slide)
• Saunieres deposit box.

44
(No Transcript)
45
Fundamental Principle of Counting

• Vernet says every key is electronically paired
  with a ten-digit account number that functions as
  a password. (p. 184)
• Sophie calculates the cryptographic odds to be
  ten billion possible choices.
• The Fundamental Principle of Counting is a
  procedure for counting total possible outcomes in
  multistage processes. The number of ways that
  the entire process can be done is the product of
  the number of ways each stage can be done.
• Each digit of the password has 10 possibilities
  so the password has (10)(10)(10)(10)1010
  possibilities.

46
Predicting the password

• Notice that Saunieres message,
  13-3-2-21-1-1-8-5, has 10 digits.
• Sophie enters 1332211185 and realizes she only
  has one chance to get it right.
• She says Its too random. he would have
  chosen a number that he could easily remember,
  something that appeared random but was not.
• So she enters 1123581321.

47
Success! The password worked.

• Rosewood box obtained from the vault at
  Depository Bank of Zurich.
• Cryptex is found inside the box.
• Langdon and Neveu escape bank and go to Sir Leigh
  Teabings estate.
• Langdon discovers a coded message written
  underneath an inlaid rose in the top of the box.
  It leads to opening the cryptex.

48
Rosewood box
49
Description of cryptex

• A cylinder approximately the dimensions of a
  tennis ball can.
• Five lettered dials that rotate like a bicycle
  lock. (though on p. 198 it mentions 6)
• The inside is hollow to contain a message.
• It opens at the end when all the dials are
  properly set.
• 265 11,881,376 possible settings.
• May look similar to the following picture.

50
Description of cryptex

• A cylinder similar to a tennis ball can.
• Five lettered dials that rotate like a bicycle
  lock.
• The inside is hollow to contain a message.
• Opens at the end when all the dials are properly
  set.
• 265 11,881,376 possible settings.

51
Coded verse written in the lid of the rosewood
box
52
Remembering her Grandfathers teachings, Sophie
determines the code.
53

• an ancient word of wisdom frees this scroll
• and helps us keep her scatterd family whole
• a headstone praised by templars is the key
• and atbash will reveal the truth to thee
• Sauniere had written this iambic pentameter
  verse using a mirrored script, the same as
  Leonardo Da Vinci used in his notebook, now known
  as Codex Leicester and owned by Bill Gates.

54
Cipher disk

• Two concentric disks with the alphabet on one
  disk and symbols or a mixed, reversed or standard
  alphabet on the other.
• Invented in Italy before 1470.
• First large scale use in the U.S. during Civil
  War.
• During, and for several years after, World War I,
  the U.S. Army issued the disks to units that
  needed a cipher that could be carried and used
  easily.
• Leave the setting on the same predetermined
  letter through the message or agree in advance to
  alter it after every letter of the message or
  daily or weekly.

55
Caesar-cipher

• Invented by Julius Caesar.
• Shifts the alphabet forward three letters.
  (variations of this use a shift of 1 or 2 letters
  forward or backward).
• You can decipher the message by just writing the
  alphabet in columns down from the message. (add
  as many letters in each column as the maximum
  shift to be considered for the Caesar-cipher.)

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(No Transcript)
57
(No Transcript)
58
Caesar Box code writing

• This is a transposition cipher invented by Julius
  Caesar.
• Consider the encrypted message wiouannnsgcthtoy
• Notice there are 1642 letters so write them in
  the format of a 4 X 4 box.
• wiou
• annn
• sgct
• htoy

59
Caesar Box (continued)

• Now read the box column by column.
• W I O U
• A N N N
• S G C T
• H T O Y
• So the deciphered message is
• Washington County.

60
The Atbash cipher

• Dates to 500 BC
• A monoalphabetic substitution cipher (i.e. each
  plain letter is replaced by a single cipher
  letter from the same alphabet). 
• Rotational substitution scheme, the first for the
  last, second for next to last, etc.
• Based on the 22 letter Hebrew alphabet.

61
Clues from the verse

• Ancient word of wisdom frees the scroll
• Headstone praised by Templars
• Atbash will reveal the truth
• Langdon finally realizes the stone head is
  that of Baphomet, so apply the Atbash cipher to
  Baphomet.

62
Baphomet and Hebrew alphabet

• Vowel sounds not written in Hebrew spelling.
• With vowels in lower case and with Hebrew letters
  it becomes BaPVoMeTh, which has five letters as
  desired.
• Using the cipher table we get Sh-V-P-Y-A.
• Sh can be pronounced as S, and P as F.
• SVFYA becomes Sofya or Sophia when sounded
  out.
• Sophia means wisdom in Greek.
• But in ancient Greek is spelled sofia.

63
Contents of the cryptex

• Inside the cryptex is a smaller cryptex which
  also has five dials that need to be set using a
  five letter code. This smaller cryptex is
  wrapped inside a protective lambskin vellum with
  another iambic pentameter verse written on it.
  The verse, in English, read
• In London lies a knight a Pope interred.
• His labors fruit a Holy wrath incurred.
• You seek the orb that ought be on his tomb.
• It speaks of Rosy flesh and seeded womb.

64
Puzzles for the audience.

• What is the five letter word that is needed to
  open the second cryptex?
• In London lies a knight a Pope interred.
• His labors fruit a Holy wrath incurred.
• You seek the orb that ought be on his tomb.
• It speaks of Rosy flesh and seeded womb.
• What characters name is an anagram for the
  (possible) biblical reference Oh! Supine Eve?

65
Web sites related to Dan Brown and The Da Vinci
Code.

• www.danbrown.com, is the authors own web site.
  A must read for those interested in pursuing some
  of the background on the novel and related
  information. Click on Common Questions to
  read Dan Browns own thoughts on some of the
  questions raised by, and about, the novel. You
  can even sign up for a Dan Brown newsletter if
  you explore the site deep enough.
• www.johnlangdon.net, is the web site of John
  Langdon, close friend of Dan Browns father,
  creator of the ambigrams in Angels Demons, and
  possibly the inspiration for the name Robert
  Langdon in The Da Vinci Code.

66
Web sites (continued)

• www.symbols.com, is an excellent site for
  studying symbols mentioned in The Da Vinci Code.
• http//kasmana.people.cofc.edu/MATHFICT/default.ht
  ml, provides many references to works of fiction
  that use mathematics. For The Da Vinci Code it
  points out the mathematical shortcomings in the
  explanations and descriptions in the book,
  including some of the material I have shared with
  you. The cryptography section is quite thorough.
• www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/history/Mathematician
  s/Fibonacci.html, is a good web site for the
  Fibonacci sequence.

67
Web sites (continued)

• www.mcs.surrey.ac.uk/Personal/R.Knott/Fibonacci/fi
  bInArt.html, provides good information and
  additional links about PHI, the Golden Ratio.
• www.murky.org/cryptography/index.shtml, contains
  a primer on cryptology and ciphers.
• www.wordsmith.org/anagram/advanced.html, has an
  anagram builder.
• www.anagramgenius.com, has software for purchase
  or a free trial basis that creates anagrams.
• www.wordles.com/getmycruypto.asp, includes a
  cryptogram builder.

68
Bibliography

• Brown, Dan, The Da Vinci Code, Doubleday, 2003.
• Brown, Dan, The Da Vinci Code, Special
  Illustrated Edition, Doubleday, 2004.
• Burnstein, Dan, Editor, Secrets of the Code, CDS
  Books, 2004.
• Lewand, Robert Edward, Cryptological Mathematics,
  The Mathematical Association of America, 2000.
• National Security Agency, Codes, Ciphers, and
  Puzzles Activity Book.
• Ross, Debra Anne, Master Math Geometry, Thomson,
  2005.
• Sharma-Jensen, Geeta, et.al., Milwaukee Journal
  Sentinel, April 5, 2006, pp. 1E 8E.

69
Questions, answers, comments?
70
Answers to puzzles for the audience.

• What is the five letter word that is needed to
  open the second cryptex?
• In London lies a knight a Pope interred.
• His labors fruit a Holy wrath incurred.
• You seek the orb that ought be on his tomb.
• It speaks of Rosy flesh and seeded womb.
• Hints
• Alexander Pope (A. Pope)
• Presided at Sir Isaac Newtons internment
• orb, rosy flesh, seed
• APPLE

71
Answers to puzzles for the audience.

• What characters name is an anagram for the
  (possible) biblical reference Oh! Supine Eve?
• O H S U P I N E E V E
• S O P H I E N E U V E

72
End of presentation.
73
Selected entries from Cracking the Da Vinci Code
Day Calendar 2006

• Saunieres mirror-image poem on the rosewood box
  provides the key to its own meaning Atbash will
  reveal the truth to thee. The Atbash Cipher,
  which dates from around 500 BCE, uses the letters
  of the Hebrew alphabet in a simple substitution
  system each letter is replaced by another an
  equal distance from the opposite end of the
  alphabet, i.e. the first letter for the last, the
  second for the second to last, and so on.
  January 3
• The many meanings of the pentagram are at the
  heart of The Da Vinci Code. In Christian
  tradition, the pentagram was once used to
  represent the five wounds, or stigmata, of
  Christ. To the Pythagoreans, the five points
  represented the five classical elements fire,
  earth, air, water and idea, or divine thing. The
  Pythagoreans also saw within the pentagram the
  mathematical perfection of the Golden Ration of
  1.618. January 28

74

• Leonardos drawing, Vitruvian Man, was
  originally an illustration for a book on the
  works of the architect Vitruvius. It was
  accompanied by a translation of Vitruviuss
  theory about the measurements of the human body
  that 4 fingers make 1 palm, and 4 palms make 1
  foot, 6 palms make 1 cubit, 4 cubits make a mans
  height, and so on. February 6
• The strange properties of the Golden Ratio -
  which occurs in the Fibonacci sequence meant
  historically that it was seen as divine in its
  composition and infinite in its meaning. The
  ancient Greeks believed that understanding the
  Golden Ratio would help them get closer to God
  God is in the number. Many things in the
  natural and man-made worlds conform to its
  proportions, from the human face to widescreen
  televisions. February 25

75

• Langdon finds a message of male and female
  harmony in Leonardo Da Vincis Vitruvian Man, his
  drawing of a spreadeagled nude male contained
  within a circle. This is unlikely. The
  composition is based wholly on Vitruviuss
  dimensions of the human body, the emphasis being
  on rationalization of the geometry, by means of
  small whole numbers, to build the composition.
  March 8
• On this date in 1727, Sir Isaac Newton died in
  what is now the London Borough of Kensington and
  Chelsea. He was buried in Westminster Abbey, the
  first scientist to be accorded this honor. His
  study and understanding of light, his invention
  of the reflecting telescope, and his revelation
  in Principia of the mathematical ordering of the
  universe are all represented on his monument.
  March 20

76

• The Golden Rectangle is one in which the sides
  are in proportion of the Golden Ratio in other
  words, the longer side is 1.618 times longer than
  the shorter side. Aesthetically pleasing, it is
  found throughout world art and culture. Leonardo
  da Vincis drawing of the Vitruvian Man has the
  outlines of a Golden Rectangle based on the head,
  one on the torso, and another over the legs.
  April 14
• The mortally wounded Louvre curator Jacques
  Sauniere scribbles the puzzling reference on the
  floor of the Grand Gallery to a Draconian
  devil. This briefly brings to Langdons mind
  the Athenian legislator Draco, remembered for his
  harsh law code of 621 BCE, which imposed the
  death penalty for relatively trivial crimes. In
  this contest, the word draconian describes
  harsh or repressive legal measures. April 20

77

• The flame-haired thirty-two-year-old Agent Sophie
  Neveu studied cryptography at the University of
  Londons royal Holloway College, on the city's
  western outskirts. Cryptography, the science and
  study of analyzing, writing or deciphering codes
  and ciphers, forms part of a relatively new
  Masters degree in Information Security, of which
  Royal Holloways was the first course of its kind
  in the world, and is reputed to be the finest.
  April 21
• Langdons experience of epigraphical ciphers by
  the English writer, philosopher and scientist
  Francis Bacon (1561-1626) helps him crack
  Saunieres code. In Book VI of his Proficience
  and Advancement of Learning Divine and Humane,
  Bacon expressed his preference for ciphers whose
  vertues include that they bee without
  suspition in other words, for codes that do
  not appear to be enciphered messages. May 1

78

• Leonardos mirror script, featured in Saunieres
  cryptex riddle, may have been a code or merely
  an idiosyncratic, left-handers approach to
  writing. Either way, he would not have wanted to
  broadcast his most mind-blowingly prescient
  observation that the driving creative force is
  not God, but Nature, for which necessity is the
  mistress and teacher. Some three hundred years
  later, Darwins theory of evolution was still
  considered heresy. May 11
• Sophie and Robert Langdon puzzle over Sir Isaac
  Newtons tomb in Westminster Abbey for the
  solution to the final clue. The monument was
  completed in 1731 by Michael Rysbrack to the
  design of William Kent. Mathematical and optical
  instruments and some of his most influential
  books, including the Principia, surround the
  reclining figure of Newton. On top of the globe
  sits the figure of Astronomy. John Maynard
  Keynes said of Newton after his death, He
  regarded the universe as a cryptogram set by the
  Almighty. June 2

79

• The Da Vinci Code introduces to readers many
  complex words from the field of code-breaking
  pictogram, codex, symbology, iconology, cryptex
  and polyalphabetic substitution cipher, to name
  but a few. Not all are inventions or adaptations
  by Dan Brown. June 25
• Jacques Saunieres use of mirror writing in the
  first riddle pays homage to Leonardo da Vinci,
  whose virtually illegible scrawl travels from
  right to left across the pages of his numerous
  private notebooks. In these, his observations,
  accompanied by sketches and drawings, touch on
  science, philosophy, art, architecture,
  engineering, astronomy and anatomy. July 6

80

• Langdon recalls his bewildered first impression
  of the Codex Leicester, a compilation of
  loose-leaf notes written in Leonardos
  mirror-image version of Renaissance Italian
  between 1506 and 1510. It contains his
  observations on subjects ranging from astronomy
  to the properties of rocks, water, fossils and
  air. It is now owned by Bill Gates, co-founder
  of Microsoft and worlds richest man, and is on
  display at the Seattle Art Museum. July 10
• The downfall of the Knights Templar was partly
  brought about by charges of worshiping the
  mysterious idol, Baphomet, whose name is the key
  to opening the first cryptex in Dan Browns
  novel. By converting the name Baphomet into its
  Hebrew spelling (B PV M Th), and then applying
  the Atbash Cipher to these letters, Sir Leigh
  Teabing reveals the word sophia, the Greek word
  for wisdom. August 10

81

• Sauniere arranged his dying body into the image
  of Leonardos iconic drawing, Vitruvian Man.
  Vitruvius was a Roman engineer, writer, and
  architect of the late first-century BCE and early
  first century CE. His one extant book, De
  Architectura, contains ten huge encyclopedic
  chapters on human proportions. His rediscovery
  in the Renaissance fueled the growth of
  classicism. Vitruvian Man is Sophie Neveus
  favorite Leonardo work. September 7
• Knowledge of the Atbash Cipher enables Sir Leigh
  to open Saunieres first cryptex. The name
  Atbash comes from the first two letters of the
  Hebrew alphabet (aleph and beth, a and b in
  English) and their equivalents in cipher (tac and
  shin, for t and s). Hebrew scribes translating
  the books of the Old Testament applied the cipher
  to place names like Sheshach, which biblical
  scholars later revealed as Babel. October 10

82

• Jacques Saunieres scrambled Fibonacci sequence
  provides the ten-digit PIN for the Priory
  keystone at the Depository Bank of Zurich, as
  well as an opportunity for some interesting
  musings on phi, the Golden Ratio. Leonardo
  Fibonacci (c.1170-c.1250) was born in Pisa,
  Italy, and educated in North Africa. Returning
  to Pisa around 1200, his mathematical genius
  earned him a place at the court of the Holy Roman
  Emperor, Frederick II. October 18
• Sir Leigh Teabing was not the first scholar to
  apply the Atbash Cipher to the word Baphomet to
  reveal sophia. This hidden meaning was, in fact,
  first brought to light by the Dead Sea Scrolls
  expert Dr. Hugh J. Schonfield, author of The
  Passover Plot, who felt that the Knights Templar
  must have known about the cipher through their
  dealings in the Holy Land. October 29

83

• The device used to protect sensitive information
  in Dan Browns novel is called a cryptex, said to
  have been constructed from Leonardos blueprint
  designs. Unfortunately this isnt true. The
  cryptex is Dan Browns invention, and a flawed
  one at that the vinegar stored inside would not
  be acidic enough to destroy papyrus. November
  25
• Arguably the father of modern physics, Isaac
  Newton was born on this date in 1642 (by the
  Julian calendar). His Principia described
  universal gravitation, the laws of motion and
  formed the bedrock of classical mechanics. In
  The Da Vinci Code, the line from the second
  cryptex, In London lies a knight a Pope
  interred leads Robert Langdon and Sophie Neveu
  to Newtons tomb in Westminster Abbey, London.
  December 25