Chapter 20 The third part of joining the army-4

It was a guy named Leo Lavatelli who first taught me how to pick a lock.I've found that common spring locks -- such as the Yale lock, invented by the Yale father and son -- can be easily opened. You just put a small screwdriver in the keyhole and turn the lock.Of course, it won't turn at first, because there are several small needles in the lock, and you have to push them to the correct height (this is what the key does), and the lock will not be opened.And since most of these locks are not perfectly made, the great responsibility for keeping the lock tight often falls on one of the pins.Now, if you squeeze a piece of wire -- like a paper clip -- through the keyhole (you're going to push the screwdriver all the way to the side to get the keyhole free), and move it back and forth, sooner or later you will The most difficult lock pin is pushed to the proper height; at this time, the lock can be turned a little bit, so that the first pin is stuck on the edge and stops on it; at this time, most of the remaining force is transferred to the second pin. The lock pins bear, so you repeat the method just now, and within a few minutes, all the lock pins are jacked up.

What often happens is that the screwdriver slips and you hear the kick-kick-kick and the locking pins all fall back.It turns out that there is a small spring on each lock pin. When you pull out the key, the lock pins are all pushed down and return to their original positions; if you pull out the screwdriver, you can hear them fall down. ——Sometimes, you can also pull out the screwdriver to see if there is any progress. Maybe your wire is pushed in the wrong direction.The whole process is a bit like Sisyphus in Greek mythology: just when you think you have pushed the stone to the top of the hill, it rolls back down the hill and everything has to start all over again.

This method is very simple, practice makes perfect with more practice, and you will soon know how to adjust the strength so that you can just push the lock pin up without letting it fall back.The funny thing is, a lot of people don't realize that when they're locked out or inside a door, it's actually not that hard to pick it open. When we developed the atomic bomb in Los Alamos, everything was rushed at the beginning, and many things were actually not ready. All the confidential documents of the plan-the information on how to build the atomic bomb-were all randomly placed in the filing cabinets, and some The cabinets weren't locked at all, or they were just locked with ordinary padlocks, they might only have three pins - such locks are really easy to open.

To enhance security, machinists throughout the factory made a long rod for each filing cabinet, passed through the handle of each drawer, and locked it with a padlock. Others said to me, "Look at these new outfits, can you still open them?" I looked at the back of the filing cabinet and found that the bottom of the drawer was not sealed. There was a long slit with an iron rod in the slit, and a removable hard partition was installed on it to help fix the files.I reached in from behind, pushed open the partition, and pulled out the documents one by one through the long slit. "Look!"

I said, "I don't need to open a chain." Los Alamos is a collaborative place, and we feel it is our duty to point out any areas for improvement.I kept complaining about the lack of security, and others thought it was safe enough with steel rods and padlocks, which were useless.To demonstrate how useless those locks are, whenever I need to borrow papers from someone and they don't happen to be there, I run into their office, open the filing cabinet and get the stuff out.After using it, I returned the file to him, saying: "Thank you for lending me this report." "Where did you get it?"

"From your filing cabinet." "But I locked it up!" "I know you locked it up, but those locks don't work." Finally, they bought some filing cabinets with digital combination locks, all made by a company called the Mosler Safe Company, each with three drawers.When you pull the top drawer open, you release the hasp that held the bottom two drawers in place, leaving them "unlocked." To open the topmost layer, you need to turn the digital dial to the left, right, left, and then right to 10 according to the password, and then the lock bolt inside can be opened.When closing, first push up the middle and lower drawers, then close the top layer, and turn the number lock from 10 to other numbers at will, so that the lock bolt is closed.

Of course, these new filing cabinets immediately became my new challenge.My favorite thing to do is puzzle games: if someone invents something to keep others out, there should be a way to break it and break in! First, I had to understand how digital locks work, so I took apart the lock on the filing cabinet in my office and found that there were three discs mounted on the same shaft, one next to the other. The location is notched.The principle of unlocking is to find a way to line up the three notches to form a groove.Finally when you turn the dial to 10, the friction will bring the latch into the notch.

How should the disc be turned?It turns out that there is a nail protruding from the back of the number plate, and a locking nail protrudes from the first disc, and the two nails have the same radius from the center of the axis.So as long as you turn the number dial, you will take the first disc with you if you turn it around at most. Similarly, there is also a locking nail behind the first disc and in front of the second disc, and the radius from the center of the axis is also the same.So when you make a second turn after the first disc has been turned, you also turn the second disc. If the rotation continues, the nail on the back of the second disc will meet the nail on the third disc, and all three discs will rotate at the same time.Now you turn the number dial to the first code, then turn the number dial in the opposite direction, and drive the second disc from the other side to the second code.

Finally, you turn the number dial in the opposite direction and turn the number one disc to the correct position.Now that the notches of the three discs are in line, turn the number disc to 10 and the lock will open. But I tried and tried, and still couldn't figure out how to do it.I bought two books on how to pick locks, but they both said the same thing.At the beginning of the book, there are some amazing stories about lockpickers. For example, a famous woman was locked in a meat freezer and was about to freeze to death, but the locksmith opened the lock within two minutes with a golden hook upside down. .Or there is a box of furs or gold coins on the bottom of the sea, and the king of unlocking dives to the bottom of the sea to open the box and take out the treasure.

The second part of the book tells you how to open the safe, but it's all stupid suggestions, like "You can try some combination of dates, because many people like to use dates as combination numbers for digital locks" or " Guess the psychology of the owner of the safe and think about the combinations he might use." And "Miss Secretary is often afraid that she will forget the number combination, so she may write the combination in the following places: on the side of the drawer of the desk, in the mess On the list of names and addresses..." and so on. The book mentions how to open a general safe, which makes sense and is easy to understand.Ordinary safes are additionally equipped with handles. When you hold the handle and pull it down while turning the number dial, the force of the handle will press the lock bolts against the bad opening (they are not yet aligned at this time), and one of the discs Often bear the most force.When the notch of this disc hits the lock, it will make a "click"

You can hear a soft sound with a stethoscope, or you can feel the friction force suddenly weaken, and you will know that "you have found a number"! Although you don't know whether it is the first, second or third number, as long as you turn the digital dial in the opposite direction and see how many times you have to turn it before you hear the "click" sound, you can guess it. Clue, if it is less than one circle, it must be the first disc; if it is less than two circles, it means that the number belongs to the second disc.However, this method only works on normal safes with handles, so again I'm out of luck. I tried a lot of other methods, such as whether I can loosen the buckles fastened by the middle and lower drawers without moving the top drawer; I also tried to unscrew the screws on the top of the cabinet and straighten the wire hanger Go in and explore east and west.Also, I tried turning the number dial very fast, and then turned it to 10, hoping that the sudden addition of friction would cause one of the discs to stop in the correct position.But nothing works and I feel very depressed. So, I systematically studied in depth.For example, there are many filing cabinet combinations that are 69-32-21.So how much difference can there be and still be able to open the lock?When the number is 69, is 68 okay? For 67, in our case, the first two are really acceptable, but 66 is not. Therefore, the allowable error is two scales on the left and right. In other words, only one of every five numbers needs to be tried. , you can try 0, 5, 10, 15, etc.So there are 20 such numbers among the 100-point numbers on the board, that is to say, there are 8,000 possibilities in total-this is already a big improvement, because if you try each number one by one, you have 1 million possible combinations. The question is, how long will it take me to try all 8000 combinations?Suppose I have found the first two numbers, for example, they are 69-32, but I don't know the exact combination, I think they are 70-30, then I can continue to try to find the third number from 20 possibilities.And if I only know the first number, then after trying the 20 numbers on the third disc, I can change the position of the second disc slightly, and then try the 20 numbers on the third disc . I practiced like hell with my safe until I could find numbers on the fly without forgetting the one I was looking for and messing up the first number.Like someone who practices magic tricks, I am so skilled that I can try all 400 possible numbers in half an hour.That way, it only takes me 8 hours at most to open a safe -- an average of 4 hours! There was a man named Stani in Los Alamos who was also very interested in locks; we talked about locks together now and then, but nothing came out of it.After I figured out how to open the safe within 4 hours on average, I wanted to show Stanis.I ran into an office in the computer group and said to the colleague, "I want Stani to look at something. Can I borrow your safe?" The rest of the computer group came along and said, "Hey, everyone, Feynman is going to teach Stanis how to open a safe, ha-ha!" Actually, I didn't intend to actually open the safe; I just wanted to tell him how to find the next two numbers quickly without getting out of step and having to reset the first number. I started acting. "Let us assume that the first number is 40, and we try 15 for the second number. We go forward, backward, and turn to number 10; add 5 scales to the front and back, 10... and try it all the time. Now we have tried All the possible third numbers. Come down and continue to find the second number, let us try 20; forward, backward, 10; add 5 scales forward, backward, 10; add 5 scales to Forward, backward..." "Kali!" My jaw almost dropped: the first two numbers happened to be right by me! Since my back was turned to them, no one could see my expression.Stani was also extremely surprised, but we soon found out what happened.So I pulled the top drawer out triumphantly and said, "That's it!" Stani said: "I see, this is really a good way." Then we left quickly.Everyone was stunned. In fact, I relied on luck, but all of a sudden, I really became famous by unlocking the lock. It took me about a year and a half, back and forth, to get that far (while I was working on the atomic bomb, of course), but I think I've beaten the safe.I mean, in the unlikely event that someone goes missing or dies, and no one knows the combination to their filing cabinet, and there's an urgent need to get the contents inside, I'm pretty sure I can open it.After reading the "great deeds" of those lockpicking experts described in the book, I feel that my achievements are not bad. Los Alamos doesn't have much entertainment, and everyone has to figure it out for themselves. So fiddling with the Moschler lock on the filing cabinet became a kind of entertainment for me.One day I found an interesting thing: when the lock is opened, the drawer is pulled out, and the number plate is still on the number 10 (this is the case when people open the filing cabinet to get things), the latch is still open. of.What does it mean?That is to say, the locking bolt still remains in the groove of the 3 discs!Wonderful! Now, if I turn the dial a little away from the 10 position, the latch jumps up: but if I immediately turn it back to the 10 position, the latch falls back into the groove, because I haven't done much Change.Well, if I continue to turn away from 10, in units of 5, sooner or later I will hit a number that will never fall back when I turn back to 10, because the shape of the groove has been affected up.In other words, the number just now—the one that the deadbolt will fall back on—is the third digit of the combination! I immediately realized that the same method can be used to find the second number: Once I know the third number, I can turn the number dial to the other side, and also take 5 scales as a unit, and change the state of the second disc little by little until the lock can no longer fall back, and finally The number is the 2nd digit. If I am very patient, then all three numbers can be found out, but in fact, using this method to find the first number is better than trying 20 numbers alone when the filing cabinet is locked but the last two passwords are known. The number method is much more troublesome. I practiced and practiced until I could come up with the last two numbers (while the filing cabinet was still open) without even looking at the dial; On the filing cabinet he had opened, I reached for the number dial on the filing cabinet, as someone unconsciously plays with the keys while talking.Occasionally I put my finger on the peg so I can tell if it's coming up without looking.Using this method, I have found the last two numbers of many cabinets.When I got back to my office, I immediately wrote the number down on a piece of paper and hid the piece of paper in the lock of the cabinet.Every time I have to take the lock off to get the paper out - I think it's a pretty safe place. It didn't take long before I became more famous, because slowly people would come to me and say, "Hey! Feynman! Christie's out of town, but we need a file in his filing cabinet, can you open it?" it?" If I don't know the last 2 numbers of this cabinet, I will say: "Sorry, I am not free right now, I have something to do." Otherwise I will say: "Okay, but I need some tools." I didn't really need any tools, but I ran back into the office, opened my locker, and pulled out the cheat sheet: Christie—35,60.Then grab a random screwdriver and walk over to Kristie's office and close the door, not everyone should know how to open a filing cabinet! After a few minutes, I opened the locker, because I only needed to find the first number, and it took me 20 tries at most to find it.And then I'd just sit there, read a magazine, kill 15, 20 minutes.I can't make it seem so easy to other people, or they'll think, there must be some trick to it!Finally I opened the door and said, "Open." People think that I try it from scratch every time, because of the impression created by the accident that I showed Stani in the last demonstration, and I let everyone continue to think that way.No one has ever thought about it. I usually figure out the two passwords behind their safes.But maybe they didn't get suspicious because I did it a lot; it's a bit like a gambler always has a poker hand for nothing. I often have to travel to Oak Ridge to see if there are any safety issues in their uranium production plant. Because it is during the war, everything is always in a hurry. I'm going to go to them again one weekend.On Sunday, there was a general, the vice president of some company, two other big shots, and me -- sitting in some guy's office, discussing a report.The report was in the safe, but it occurred to the guy that he didn't know the combination to the safe, only the secretary.He called her home, only to find out she had gone on a picnic trip. While he was busy looking for his secretary, I asked, "You don't mind if I look in your safe?" "Haha-I don't mind!" I went to his safe and fiddled with it. They went on talking about maybe driving to the secretary; our host was getting more and more embarrassed because everyone was stuck there and he didn't know how to open the safe like an idiot.Everyone was very dissatisfied with him, the atmosphere became more and more tense, and suddenly "Kali!" - the lock was opened. Within 10 minutes, I had opened the safe full of secrets.They were all dumbfounded, obviously the safe is not very safe!This blow was too terrifying.These "readable, non-removable" top secrets are all locked in this wonderful cabinet, and it only took this guy 10 minutes to open it! Of course, the fact that I managed to get the lock open was due to the fact that I had the habit of feeling for the last two numbers as soon as I saw the lock.I had been in the same office at Oak Ridge the month before; that time the safe had just been opened, and I, out of habit, had found the last two digits of the combination without realizing it.I didn't write them down afterwards, but I still had a vague impression, so I tried 40-15 first, and then 15-40, but they were all wrong.Then I tried 10-45 and opened the cabinet. Something similar happened once.I have written a report which needs approval from a colonel in Oak Ridge.One weekend, I ran to Oak Ridge to meet him. My report is in his safe.The others had filing cabinets of the same kind as we had at Los Alamos; but he was a colonel, so his filing cabinet was much superior--it had two doors with large handles that pulled four Only 3/4 inch thick stainless steel latch.The colonel opened the two bronze doors and took out the report to read.I rarely get a chance to see a really good safe, so I said, "While you're reading the report, can I have a look at your safe?" "Look," he said, confident that there was absolutely nothing I could do about it.I looked at the back of one of the doors and saw that the dial was connected to a small lock, and the lock was exactly the same as the lock on my filing cabinet in Los Alamos!Same company, same little bolt, except the handle on the safe moves some sticks sideways when the bolt goes down, and with a bunch of levers you can move those 3/4 inch The stainless steel latch pulls out.Out of "professional perfectionism" and to make sure they are the same lock, I used the same technique to remove the last two digits of the combination. At this time, he was still reading the report.When he had finished he said, "All right, the report is well written." Putting the report in the safe, he closed the huge brass door by the huge handle.It all sounds so good when it's closed, but I know it's all psychological because it's the same damn lock. I couldn't help but stab him (I always like to joke with soldiers in nice uniforms) and said, "The way you close the safe, you seem to think everything is safe in it." "certainly." "The only reason you feel so safe is because the common man calls it a 'safe' (I specifically use the word 'common man' to make it sound like he's being scammed by the common man)." He got angry: "What do you mean - isn't it safe?" "A good locksmith can open it in 30 minutes." "Can you open it in thirty minutes?" "I just said 'good locksmith'. If it was me it would take 45 minutes." "Well!" he said, "my wife is waiting for me at home for dinner, but I'm going to stay and watch you play, and now you sit down and I'm going to watch you fiddle with this shit for 45 minutes and not turn it on! ’ He sat in his big leather chair, crossed his legs over the desk, and read a book. Full of confidence, I took a chair and sat down in front of the safe, and then pretended to twiddle the number dial. After about 5 minutes - a long time if you're sitting there waiting - he gets impatient: "What's going on, any progress?" Also: "Like this kind of cabinet, if you can't open it, you can't open it." I estimated that it would be almost there in a minute or two, so I started to try it seriously. Two minutes later, "Kali!" The door opened.The colonel's mouth was open and his eyes popped out. "Colonel," I said seriously, "let me tell you what's wrong with these locks: if the door of a safe or the top drawer of a filing cabinet is left open, the combination is easy to find out. To demonstrate the danger involved , I found it while you were looking at the report. You should order everyone to lock their filing cabinets while they are at work. Those safes are pretty easy to deal with when they are open." "Yeah! I see what you mean, that's funny!" We've been on the same side ever since. The next time I went to Oak Ridge, everyone who knew who I was saw me and said, "Don't pass here! Don't come over!" It turned out that the colonel sent out a questionnaire, which asked: "The last time Mr. Feynman Did he come to, approach, or pass your office when you called?" Some said yes, others said no.Some people said they received another notification: "Please change your safe password." This is his solution to the problem: I am the source of the danger.They have to change all the passwords for me, and changing the password and reciting the new password is a miserable thing, so they are very angry with me, and they don't want me to approach them again, and they are afraid that they will have to change the password again later.Of course, while they were working, the filing cabinet drawers were open, as always! All our work and records in Los Alamos are housed in the library there. It was a solid concrete house with a large, handsome door with a turning metal lock—like a vault in a bank.I have tried to study it carefully.I knew the lady who ran the library and begged her to let me play with the lock.I'm simply mesmerized by it: it's the biggest lock I've ever seen!But I found that my method didn't work either. Even with the door open, I couldn't find the last two digits of the code.In fact, when I turned the dial, I made the lock "locked" and the deadbolt protruded and the door couldn't be closed until the lady concierge came and opened the lock.So, the research on that lock can only go so far, I don't have enough time to find out its principle - that's beyond my ability. After the war, I went to teach at Cornell University.During the summer vacation of that year, I went back to Los Alamos again.Because I had a research project, and in the middle of it, I found that I had to refer to a report I wrote before, but I couldn't remember what it was, and this document was still hidden in the library in Los Alamos.I ran to read the documents, but there was a soldier with a gun patrolling the door of the library.It was Saturday, and the library is closed on Saturdays. I suddenly thought of my good friend Dee Hoffman, who worked in the decryption department.After the war, the military considered lifting the confidentiality ban on some documents, so he kept going back and forth between the library and the office, reviewing this document, reviewing that document, checking this, checking that, he was going crazy!In the end he made a photocopy of every document—all the secrets about the atomic bomb—in his office, which numbered nine filing cabinets. I ran to his office, the lights were still on, and it looked like someone was there—maybe his secretary—just walked away, so I had to wait.While I waited, I reached out to turn the number dial on the filing cabinet.I don't know the last two numbers of the combination because the filing cabinets were delivered after the war, after I had left.I began to think about those books that taught people how to pick locks, and I thought: "I have never paid attention to the tricks mentioned in the book, and I have never thought about trying it, but now I might as well try to see if I can use their methods, and put the locks together." Die Hoffman's filing cabinet is open." The first trick: because the secretary is afraid of forgetting the password, he will write the combination of numbers somewhere. I started looking for places mentioned in the book.The office drawers are all locked, but the locks are ordinary, and Lavatini taught me that - bang!The lock is open.I looked along the side of the drawer and there was nothing. Then I looked through the secretary's files.I found a piece of paper that every secretary had, with neatly written Greek letters—for identification when looking at our numerical equations—and their sounds.And on the top of the table, it seems to be inadvertently written π=3.14159. That is exactly 6 numbers, why does Miss Secretary need to know the value of π?It's too obvious, there's no other reason! I ran to one of the filing cabinets and tried 31-41-59, but it didn't open.I tried 59-41-31 again, but it still didn't open.Then do 95-14-13, reverse the numbers before and after, and reverse them—all unsuccessful! I closed the drawer and was about to walk out of the office when I suddenly remembered what the book said: Next, try mental reasoning.I said to myself, "Dee Hoffman must be the kind of person who uses numbers as passwords." I ran back to the filing cabinet, I tried 27-18-28, "Calli!" It really opened! (In addition to π, the second most important constant is the base of natural logarithms, that is, e=2.71828...) There are 9 cabinets in total, I only opened one, but the file I want is in another In the cabinet - the documents are arranged in order of author name.I tried 27-18-28 on the second cabinet, and the "Kali" opened again!The passwords are exactly the same.I thought, "This is fun! I've unlocked the secrets of the atomic bomb. But if I'm going to tell this story to someone later, I better make sure all the codes are the same!" Part of the filing cabinet was in the next room, so I casually Picked one to try 27-18-28, and opened it again.So far I have opened 3 cabinets, and the codes are all the same. I thought to myself, "Now I can write a better book on lockpicking, because at the beginning I will mention how I opened these safes, which contained more important and valuable things than any expert lockpicking ever opened— —Other than human lives, of course. But what was in the safe I opened was far more important than treasure or furs: all the secrets of making the atomic bomb, including the process of producing plutonium, the refining process, how much material was needed, the atomic bomb Principles, how neutrons are created, the design of the atomic bomb—everything Los Alamos knows is here!" I ran back to the second filing cabinet and took out the files I wanted.Then I picked up a bright red crayon, found a piece of yellow paper, and wrote on it: "I borrowed the document numbered LA4312 - left by the lockpicking expert Feynman." I put the note on the document in the cabinet , turn it off. I left another note in the first locker: "This one isn't too hard to open - keep it for the smart guy." Then I closed it.In the filing cabinet next door, I wrote "When the combination is all the same, it's easy to open all the cabinets - one person stays." Closed the drawer, and went back to my office to write the report. In the evening I was having dinner in a restaurant when I ran into Die Hoffmann.He said he was going back to the office, and I thought it would be fun, so I went with him. He set to work, and soon ran to the next door to open the filing cabinet there, but I didn't expect it—he happened to run to open the cabinet where I kept the third note.He opened the drawer, and what he saw was the bright yellow note filled with red letters.Books often say that when people are afraid, they will "turn pale", but I have never seen what that face looks like before.Now I know that's not true at all.His face had turned a dull yellow-green—it looked really scary.He picked up the paper, his hands trembling. "Look... look at this!" he said, shaking all over. Of course, the note reads "When the passwords are all the same, it is not difficult to open all the cabinets - one person stays." "What does that mean?" I asked. "All the passwords...the passwords of my filing cabinets are all... the same!" He stammered. "That's not a good idea." "I... I know now!" he said, breaking down. Another effect of paleness is probably that the brain is not bright.He said: "He even signed it! He also said who he is!" "what?" "Yes," he said, "this is the same guy who tried to break into the Omega Building!" During the war, and even after the war, there were constant rumors: "Someone is trying to break into the Omega building!" As it happened, there was an experiment with the atomic bomb in which enough uranium was put together to cause a chain reaction. reaction.They let a small piece of uranium fall "through" another small piece of uranium. It caused a reaction when it passed through, and they recorded the number of neutrons.Because the passing speed is very fast, the effect will not accumulate and there will be no explosion; but they require enough reactions to know whether the experiment is done correctly, whether it matches the prediction, etc.This is a very dangerous experiment! Of course, they did not do this experiment in the heart of Los Alamos, but miles away, in a valley over several mesas, where it was completely isolated.The Omega building is surrounded by barbed wire, guards and watchtowers.In the dead of night, the hare would run out of the grass, hit the barbed wire, make a noise, and the guards would shoot.What would the guard say?Said it was just a rabbit?No. "Someone tried to break into the Omega building, but I scared him away!" That's why Die Hoffman pales and trembles; but he doesn't notice the logical gap: The person who wanted to break into the Omega building might be the "same person" standing beside him. He asked me what to do. "Well, let's see if there are any missing files." "It looks all right," he said, "I don't see what's missing." I wanted to lead him to the filing cabinet where I had taken the papers. "Well, if all the codes are the same, then he may have stolen from another drawer." "Yes!" he said, and immediately ran back to his office, opened the first filing cabinet, and found the second note I left behind: "This cabinet is not difficult to open—it's for the smart ones." At this point, it doesn't matter whether it's the "same guy" or the "smart ghost". To him, this must be the one who wanted to break into the Omega Building, so it was really difficult to convince him to open the filing cabinet where I left the first note; I can't remember how to persuade him . As he started opening the filing cabinets, I started walking down the hall, too, because I was kind of scared he'd break my neck when he found out who it was! Sure enough, he followed me and kept running.But he didn't get angry, instead he reached out and hugged me - because he can let go of his heart!It turned out that this terrible theft of atomic bomb secrets was just a prank on me. (The above two sections were entered by Yunhu Bugui) A few days later, Di Hoffman came to me and said he needed something from Donald Kerst's locker, but Kerst was back in Illinois and it was hard to get in touch. "If you can open my safe mentally," said Die Hoffman (I told him everything), "maybe you can open Kester's that way too." At this time, my story has already spread, so several people came to see my wonderful performance-opening a safe that is completely unknown: this time I don't have to drive others away, because I don't know the last two digits of the combination What, in fact, is that I need more people around who know Kester when I use the psychological method. When I got to Kester's office, I checked the desk first, but couldn't find any clues.I asked them, "What kind of cipher would Koster use? Mathematical constants?" "Oh no!" Die Hoffman said, "Kester would use something very simple." I tried 10-20-30, 20-40-60, 30-20-10.None of it works. I asked again: "Do you think he will use any date?" "Yes!" they said, "he's like that." We tried various dates: 8-6-45, which was the date of the atomic bomb test; 86-19-45; this date; that date... none of it worked. Most people had no patience to watch and left.But the only way to deal with this damn thing is to have patience! In the end, I decided to try every date since 1900.This sounds like a lot, but it is not: the first number is the month, from 1 to 12, and I only need to try 3, namely 10, 5, 0.The second number is the day, from 1 to 31, I just pick 6 of them to try.The last is the year. At that time, there were only 47 numbers in total, and I could try 9 numbers.因此我把8000个可能组合缩小到162个，我在一、二十分钟内就可以试完。 很不幸的，我从大数目开始试，因为当我终于打开档案柜时，正确密码是0－5－35。 我转头问狄霍夫曼：“1935年1月5日，克斯特有什么特别的事发生了？” “她女儿在1935年出生，”狄霍夫曼说，“那一定是她的生日。” 我已开过两个“从未谋面”的保险柜，我的开锁技术已愈来愈厉害了，现在我可以算是具备职业水准了。 同一个夏天，资产管理部的人要把以前政府采购的部分东西收回，当作剩余物资出售，其中一个是某位上尉用过的保险柜。我们都很清楚这个保险柜的事情。上尉是战争期间才来的，来了以后，他觉得我们的档案柜对他要放的机密来说，都不够安全，因此他要另买一个与众不同的保险柜。 上尉的办公室跟我们的办公室同一幢，但他在二楼。 房子是木头造的，看来很不坚固的样子，而他订购的却是一个很笨重的钢柜；搬运工人还得先垫好一排排的木板，使用特别的千斤顶，以把它推上台阶。由于罗沙拉摩斯实在没什么好玩的娱乐，因此我们全都跑来，看着工人吃力地把这个大保险柜搬到二楼他的办公室内。大家又开玩笑说，不知他要放些什么机密进去。更有人说，倒不如把我们的东西放到他的保险柜里，他的机密放到我们的档案柜里。结果，大家都知道这个柜子的事。 现在他们想把它转卖，首先却必须把里面的东西清理掉，但只有两个人知道密码是什么：上尉自己，而他却在比基尼（Bikini），以及阿尔法瑞兹——但他却已忘记密码是什么了。资产管理部的人要求我把它打开。我跑到上尉的旧办公室问他秘书：“为什么你不打电话给上尉问他密码？” “我不想打扰他。”她说。 “哦，你宁愿打扰我8个多小时！ 除非你先设法跟他联系，否则我不干。” “好啦，好啦！”她说，拿起电话。我跑到另一个房间去看看保险柜。它就乖乖地待在那里，全钢的保险柜，门却赫然是敞开的。 我跑回去找秘书小姐：“它是开着的。” “太好了！”她说，把电话放下来。 “不，”我说，“它原本就是开着的。” “哦，我猜资产管理部的人最后还是把它打开了。” 我跑到资产管理部说：“我去看过保险柜，它已经开了。” “噢，是的，”他说，“抱歉我忘记告诉你。我后来叫我们的锁匠去把它钻开。但动手钻之前他说先试试看，便把它打开了。” I see!这里透露了三项信息：首先，罗沙拉摩斯现在聘请了一位正式锁匠了；第二，这个人懂得怎样把保险柜钻开，那是我不懂的手法；第三项，他能够打开以前没碰过的保险柜，而且在几分钟内便成功。这是真正具备职业水准的锁匠，这样的人物我必定要去会一会！ 我发现，他们在战后才把他聘来（这时候军方较以前不担心保安问题）处理类似的事件。其实单是开保险柜的工作量还太少了，因此他还负责修理我们以前常用的玛灿特计算机，而刚巧战时我也经常在修理那些东西，于是我想到一个跟他碰面的方法。 我一向跟别人交往时，都不会拐弯抹角或耍手段，我会直接走上去自我介绍。可是这次不一样，跟这个锁匠见面，对我来说是那么的重要；我也知道，除非我先展示实力，他是不会告诉我他的开锁秘诀的。 我找到了他的办公室所在——跟我一样在理论物理组的建筑内，不过他在地下室——我也知道他通常在晚上工作，这时候机器都不会有人用。因此一开始我晚上到办公室时，都故意从他的门前走过，就那样而已，只从他门前走过去。 过了几个晚上，我也只“嗨”地打声招呼。再过了一段时间，他认出来经过门口的是同一个人，便开始说“嗨” 或“你好”。 过了好几个星期的磨磨蹭蹭，我注意到他在修理玛灿特计算机，但我还是没说什么，时机还未成熟呢。 慢慢地我们多谈一些了：“嗨！你工作真勤快卖力呀！” “是，蛮忙的。”之类。 终于出现了重大突破：他邀我分享他的汤。现在事情进行得很不错了，每个晚上我们一起喝汤，我也开始提到加数机，他也告诉我碰到的困难。原来他一直在设法将一组带弹簧的轮子装回轴上，但他没有合用的工具，他已经试了一星期了，我告诉他，我在战时曾经修过那些仪器，“这样吧，你把它们放在那里，明天早上我帮你看看。” “好吧。”他说，因为他没有其他办法了。 第二天我跑去看那部机器，也试着把轮子装回去，但它们不停地弹出来。我想：“如果他已经这样试了一星期，我用同样方法也装不回去，那么这方法一定不对！”我停下来仔细地看，发现在每个轮子上都有个小洞——就那么一个小洞，突然我想通了：我把第一个轮子的弹簧上好装好，把一条细铁丝穿过小洞，然后我装上第二个轮子的弹簧，让细铁丝穿过小洞，继续一个接一个地弄一好像穿项链一般——我第一次试验，就把所有轮子都装上去排得整整齐齐的，接着把细铁丝拉出来，问题便解决了。 当晚我把小洞指给他看以及怎样把轮子装上，随后开始闲聊机器的事，我们成为好朋友了。在他办公室内，有许多小格架，里面放着拆开了的锁或保险柜的零件，它们美极了！但我还是绝口不提锁或保险柜的事。 我感觉时机快成熟了，于是放出一个小饵：谈保险柜。 我把我唯一知道的小知识告诉他——就是当那些锁被打开时，你可以找出密码的最后两个数字。“嘿！”我一边看他架子上的东西一边说，“你在修理摩士勒保险柜呀。” "yes." “你知不知道这些锁并不保险。它们开着时，你可以找到后两个密码组合。” “你会那一招？”他说，终于显露出兴趣。 “会呀。” “试给我看，”他说，我示范给他看。“你叫什么名字？”从头到尾，我们都没问过对方姓名。 “费曼。”我说。 “天啊！你就是费曼！”他激动地说。“伟大的开锁专家！早就久仰大名了，我一直都想跟你会面呢！我希望能跟你学学怎样撬开保险柜。” “这话怎么说？你早已经知道怎样撬开保险柜了。” “我不会。” “听着，我听说过你把上尉的保险柜打开，我花了这么多心思跟你会面，而现在你却告诉我，你不知道怎样撬开保险柜。” "That's right." “那么至少你懂得怎样把保险柜钻开。” “那个我也不会。” “什么？”我叫起来了，“资产保管部的人说你拿了工具，要去把上尉的保险柜钻开。” “如果你身为开锁匠，”他说，“有人跑来找你去把保险柜钻开，你会怎么做？” “我嘛，”我说，“我会假装很忙地整理好工具，跑到保险柜那里，随便在柜子上用力钻下去，好保住饭碗。” “那正是我的作法。” “但你确实把它打开了！你一定知道怎样撬锁！，，“噢，是打开了，我知道那些锁出厂时，密码都设定在25－0－25或50－25－50，因此我想： 也许那家伙根本懒得改动密码呢，而第二组密码就真的成功了。”我还是从他那里学到了一点东西：原来他跟我一样，都是用那些“神奇”的方法把锁撬开。但更滑稽的是，那个大人物上尉买了这么超级安全的保险柜，一干人等又费那么大的劲才把它抬进他的办公室里，而他居然懒得动手重新设定密码！ 我走进我们那座大楼里的各个办公室，试拨那两组密码。而我发现，平均每5个保险柜中，用这方法就可以打开其中一个！