David Shulman (November 12, 1912 – October 30, 2004) was an American

lexicographer Lexicography is the study of lexicons, and is divided into two separate academic disciplines. It is the art of compiling dictionaries. * Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionaries. * Theoretica ...

and

cryptographer Cryptography, or cryptology (from grc, , translit=kryptós "hidden, secret"; and ''graphein'', "to write", or ''-logia'', "study", respectively), is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of adver ...

. He contributed many early usages to the ''

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a c ...

'' and is listed amon
"Readers and contributors from collections" for the second edition of the OED (1989)
He felt most at home in the

New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States (behind the Library of Congress) ...

, undertaking his lexicographic research there and donating many valuable items to it.David Shulman Obituary
/ref> He described himself as "the Sherlock Holmes of Americanisms". He was a member of the

American Cryptogram Association The American Cryptogram Association (ACA) is an American non-profit organization devoted to the hobby of cryptography, with an emphasis on types of codes, ciphers, and cryptograms that can be solved either with pencil and paper, or with computers, ...

since 1933, and was a champion

Scrabble ''Scrabble'' is a word game in which two to four players score points by placing tiles, each bearing a single letter, onto a game board divided into a 15×15 grid of squares. The tiles must form words that, in crossword fashion, read left t ...

player. At the age of 23 he wrote " Washington Crossing the Delaware," a 14-line

sonnet A sonnet is a poetic form that originated in the poetry composed at the Court of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II in the Sicilian city of Palermo. The 13th-century poet and notary Giacomo da Lentini is credited with the sonnet's inventio ...

in which every line is an anagram of the title.

Works

* Shulman, David. An Annotated Bibliography of Cryptography. New York, London: Garland Publishing Co., 1976. * "Scientists Baffled: George Washington Spotted on Venus!!!" in Chapter 14: "On the Untranslatable" in Le Ton beau de Marot: In Praise of the Music of Language, by Douglas R. Hofstadter. pp. 438–439

Notes

External links

David Shulman
Obituary, reprinted in The Scotsman, Monday November 8, 2004.

(1936) by David Shulman. An anagramatic poem.
NSA: The Rare Book Collection in the National Cryptologic Museum
Contains reference to Shulman's 1976 bibliography.
Straight From The "H" Files: The Hot Dog's True History
from the web site of the

National Hot Dog and Sausage Council The National Hot Dog and Sausage Council (NHDSC) is an American trade association that promotes the hot dog and sausage industry. It was founded in 1994 by the American Meat Institute. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C. Eric Mittenthal is t ...

* The Sigmund H. Danziger, Jr. Memorial Lecture in the Humanities The Sigmund H. Danziger, Jr. Memorial Lecture in the Humanities 1999–2000 * letter dated June 19, 199
More on 'The Big Apple'
from

The Christian Science Monitor ''The Christian Science Monitor'' (''CSM''), commonly known as ''The Monitor'', is a nonprofit news organization that publishes daily articles in electronic format as well as a weekly print edition. It was founded in 1908 as a daily newspaper ...

. Barry Popik claims he and Gerald Cohen have the correct origin for the term. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Shulman, David 1912 births 2004 deaths Modern cryptographers American lexicographers American Scrabble players 20th-century lexicographers

Works

See also

Notes

External links