A light hearted look at the gentle art of keeping, and telling, a secret.

The talk will discuss:

• some mathematical milestones in the history of cryptography
• the current "magic" public key systems which are akin to "mathematical telepathy"
• what the future may bring, where every conversation and document will be automatically encrypted at source

The talk will include a live demonstration in which a secret will be openly passed between two members of the audience without the need of a common secret key. Finally there will be a brief discussion of "quantum cryptography", which exploits the spooky action at a distance that nature seems to possess at the quantum level.

This talk will be preceded by the Branch AGM starting at 6.45 p.m. in the Senior Common Room, Edward Herbert Building, Loughborough University.