War Hero Who Had Real Cause to Sport Undercover Plate

We are sorry to learn of the death of renowned British-born mathematician, Isidore Jacob Gudak. Whilst working at the University of Virginia, USA during the 1960s, Gudak - by then adopting the Anglicised name, 'Jack Good' - was known for his quirky 007 IJG number plate.

What nobody, who had ever chuckled over the ostentatious 'secret service' plate, realised was that, far from being a mildly pretentious joke, there was, in fact, a real reference to subterfuge and espionage that Jack was only allowed to hint at.

For, during the Second World War, Good had worked alongside none other than Alan Turing - the father of the digital computer - at the Bletchley Park code-breaking establishment in Buckinghamshire. It was here that the mystery of the Enigma code was finally solved, devastating enemy intelligence and significantly shortening the war.

Interestingly, the number 7 in Jack's personal number plate had another significance. He was always fascinated by numbers and, in particular the phenomenon of coincidence in everyday life. Good was, therefore, delighted with the bizarre turn of events which led him to first set foot in the USA at 7 o' clock on 7th July 1977 and to be given apartment no. 7 of block no.7 at the university campus.

Without wishing to make light of the remarkable achievements of Jack Good and his Bletchley colleagues, it has ben noted that the numeric/alpha cyphers of UK registration marks could almost match the World War II Enigma code for complexity and obscurity.

In order to make some sense of it, you might wish to take a look at the history of autonumerology as outlined in this article.

 

 

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