The Enigma turns 81

Try it now: This Java applet allows you to type in messages and encode them using Enigma. To use it, visit https://homepages.tesco.net/~andycarlson/enigma/enigma_j.html

How it works: This illustration shows the key components of the Enigma machine

The Enigma lives on: Though this is an ancient system of cryptography, it still has new avatars. The machine shown here, which was inspired by the Enigma, was constructed in 2002 by Netherlands-based Tatjana van Vark. It uses 40-point rotors and uses characters, numbers and even punctuation. Each rotor contains 509 parts.