Why did Giovanni Fontana write his book in cipher?
#2
It's a simple substitution cipher. A mnemonic one. It takes 10 minutes to break it.

I don't think it was created for secrecy. It was used in manuscripts that showcase his engineering ideas. I think the cipher is a way to demonstrate his abilities when combined with the engineering diagrams.

In this blog I demonstrate the mnemonic techniques used in Fontana's cipher, some of which I believe I was the first to record.

Fontana explicitly wrote about mnemonics, so his mnemonic cipher fits right in. As I pointed out in the blog summary, I think his cipher was a way to demonstrate the use of mnemonics (and to showcase his skills):

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RE: Why did Giovanni Fontana write his book in cipher? - by -JKP- - 29-12-2020, 09:15 PM

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