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2016 Masters project 141 Cracking the Voynich manuscript code Supervisors: Prof. Derek Abbott Dr. Brian Ng Students: Ruihang Feng (a1674940) Yaxin Hu (a1672395) 2016.10.31 Adelaide.edu.au Seek Light
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2016 Masters project 141 Cracking the Voynich manuscript code

Jan 20, 2022

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Page 1: 2016 Masters project 141 Cracking the Voynich manuscript code

2016 Masters project 141

Cracking the Voynich manuscript code

Supervisors: Prof. Derek Abbott

Dr. Brian Ng

Students: Ruihang Feng (a1674940)

Yaxin Hu (a1672395)

2016.10.31 Adelaide.edu.au Seek Light

Page 2: 2016 Masters project 141 Cracking the Voynich manuscript code

Outline The Voynich manuscript (background and history)

Literature view

The project 141

Phase 1: Text investigation

Phase 2: Illustrations research

Phase 3: Marginal symbols investigation

Conclusions

Applications

The University of Adelaide 2

Page 3: 2016 Masters project 141 Cracking the Voynich manuscript code

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voynich_manuscript#/media/File:Micha%C5%82_Wojnicz_c._1885.png

Wilfrid Voynich (1865-1930)

Born in Telsze in Polish.

In 1912, the Voynich manuscript was

found.

In 1914, he brought the manuscript to

New York.

The University of Adelaide 3

The Voynich manuscript (background and history)

Page 4: 2016 Masters project 141 Cracking the Voynich manuscript code

The Voynich manuscript

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voynich_manuscript#/media/File:Voynich_Manuscript_(170).jpg

The University of Adelaide 4

About 240 pages remaining.

folios, numbered from f1

to f116.

Each folio have two pages, r

and v.

Page 5: 2016 Masters project 141 Cracking the Voynich manuscript code

Six sections

Herbal section

The University of Adelaide 5

http://www.voynich.nu/q02/f016v_crd.jpg

Astronomical section

http://www.voynich.nu/q09/f067r1_crd.jpg

Page 6: 2016 Masters project 141 Cracking the Voynich manuscript code

Cosmological section

http://www.voynich.nu/q10/f069v_crd.jpg

Biological section

The University of Adelaide 6

http://old.world-mysteries.com/sar_13.htm

Page 7: 2016 Masters project 141 Cracking the Voynich manuscript code

Pharmaceutical section

http://www.voynich.nu/q15/f089r2_crd.jpg

Recipes section ( marginal stars)

The University of Adelaide 7

https://cogitz.wordpress.com/2009/09/14/the-mysterious-voynich-manuscript/

Page 8: 2016 Masters project 141 Cracking the Voynich manuscript code

Literature review

Researcher Conclusion

John Tiltman

Friedman [1]

Artificial language.

Feely [2] 1943, Latin.

The first study group (FSG) [3] 1946, transcription alphabet.

Takahashi [4] Transcription

The University of Adelaide 8

Page 9: 2016 Masters project 141 Cracking the Voynich manuscript code

The Project 141

Perspective: possible written numbers.

3 phases: text investigation, illustrations research, marginal

symbols research.

The University of Adelaide 9

* Because of the massive number of words and illustrations in the Voynich manuscript, the aim

of this project is not solve the whole Voynich manuscript.

Page 10: 2016 Masters project 141 Cracking the Voynich manuscript code

Phase 1: Text investigation

http://www.voynich.nu/analysis.html

The University of Adelaide 10

Takahashi Version

The Voynich manuscript

Page 11: 2016 Masters project 141 Cracking the Voynich manuscript code

Text investigation:

Use the MATLAB to deal with the features of the text.

The number of words.

The people’s writing habits: the length of words, the occurrence

frequencies of unique words.

Compare the Voynich manuscript with other known languages.

The University of Adelaide 11

Page 12: 2016 Masters project 141 Cracking the Voynich manuscript code

Text investigation: analysis

The University of Adelaide 12

0.229

0.102

0.145

0.110

0.170 0.183

0.143

0.198 0.195 0.199

0.000

0.050

0.100

0.150

0.200

0.250

Voynich Pride andprejudice(English)

Sherlock(English)

the threepresents(English)

ALPHONSEDE

(French)

magog(French)

karr(French)

Faust(German)

EINE TRAG(German)

Carlos RuizZafón

(German)

Rat

io

Unique words/total words

Voynich VS English: 47.9% Voynich VS French: 27.7% Voynich VS German: 13.6%

Difference

Page 13: 2016 Masters project 141 Cracking the Voynich manuscript code

Text investigation

The University of Adelaide 13

6.32

5.78

6.17

5.74 5.85

6.30

5.68

6.39

6.20

6.40

5.20

5.40

5.60

5.80

6.00

6.20

6.40

6.60

Voynich Pride andprejudice(English)

Sherlock(English)

the threepresents(English)

ALPHONSEDE (French)

magog(French)

karr(French)

Faust(German)

EINE TRAG(German)

Carlos RuizZafón

(German)

char

acte

rs p

er

wo

rd

word length

Voynich VS English: 6.7% Voynich VS French: 6.0% Voynich VS German: 0.1%

Difference

Page 14: 2016 Masters project 141 Cracking the Voynich manuscript code

Text investigation

The University of Adelaide 14

29.13%

52.86%

46.01% 49.25%

39.79%

59.19%

44.11% 38.77% 39.04%

35.38%

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

70.00%

Voynich Pride and

prejudice(English)

Sherlock

(English)

the three

presents(English)

ALPHONSE

DE(French)

magog

(French)

karr

(French)

Faust

(German)

EINE TRAG

(German)

Carlos Ruiz

Zafón(German)

Pe

rce

nta

ge

words appear > 1/total unique words

Voynich VS English: 41.0% Voynich VS French: 38.9% Voynich VS German: 22.8%

Difference

Page 15: 2016 Masters project 141 Cracking the Voynich manuscript code

Text investigation: conclusion

The University of Adelaide 15

The most possible language which the author of the Voynich

manuscript used is German.

Page 16: 2016 Masters project 141 Cracking the Voynich manuscript code

Numbers in pictures

Potential digits

http://old.world-mysteries.com/sar_13.htm

The University of Adelaide 16

Phase 2: Illustrations research

Page 17: 2016 Masters project 141 Cracking the Voynich manuscript code

Illustrations investigation: Analysis

The University of Adelaide 17

letter number frequency

o

1 24

2 20

3 16

4 14

5 12

ol

10 14

13 12

12 11

11 9

or

10 19

12 13

13 12

os

19 11

12 4

13 4

r

1 48

2 26

3 21

5 19

4 14

s

2 54

1 46

3 41

5 32

y

2 36

1 30

3 29

5 20

Page 18: 2016 Masters project 141 Cracking the Voynich manuscript code

Illustrations investigation: Conclusion

The University of Adelaide 18

‘o’ and ‘1’

‘ol’ and ’13’

‘or’ and ‘13’

‘r’ and ‘1’

‘y’ and ‘2’

‘s’ and ’2’

‘os’ and ‘19’

‘r’ and ‘2’

‘ol’ and ‘10’

‘ol’ and ‘12’

‘or’ and ‘10’

‘or’ and ‘12’

‘s’ and ‘1’

‘s’ and ‘3’

‘y’ and ‘1’

‘y’ and ‘3’

The most possible relationship Possible relationship

Page 19: 2016 Masters project 141 Cracking the Voynich manuscript code

Count the number of

symbols for each page.

Search potential digits from

the text.

https://cogitz.wordpress.com/2009/09/14/the-mysterious-voynich-manuscript/

The University of Adelaide 19

Phase 3: Marginal symbols investigation

Page 20: 2016 Masters project 141 Cracking the Voynich manuscript code

Marginal symbols investigation: Analysis

The University of Adelaide 20

letter Pages Digit Occurrence

pages frequency

y 18

5 3 16.67%

6 7 38.89%

7 10 55.56%

8 5 27.78%

l 13

7 7 53.85%

8 4 30.77%

9 2 15.38%

or 17 10 3 17.65%

13 5 29.41%

ol 21

12 3 14.29%

13 5 23.81%

15 4 19.05%

s 10 6 4 40%

7 3 30%

o 8

6 4 50%

8 2 25%

9 2 25%

ar 22

10 4 18.18%

12 3 13.64%

13 6 27.27%

15 3 13.64%

al 21

10 4 19.05%

13 6 28.57%

14 2 9.52%

15 4 19.05%

Page 21: 2016 Masters project 141 Cracking the Voynich manuscript code

Marginal symbols investigation:

Conclusion

The University of Adelaide 21

‘y’ and ‘7’

‘or’ and ‘13’

‘ol’ and ‘13’

‘o’ and ‘1’

‘a’ and ‘1’

‘s’ and ‘6’

‘l’ and ‘7’

‘ar’ and ‘13’

‘ar’ and ‘10’

‘al’ and ‘15’

‘al’ and ‘13’

‘al’ and ‘10’

‘ol’ and ‘15’

‘y’ and ‘6’

‘y’ and ‘8’

‘l’ and ‘8’

‘o’ and ‘6’

The most possible relationship Possible relationship

Page 22: 2016 Masters project 141 Cracking the Voynich manuscript code

Conclusions

The University of Adelaide 22

The possible relationship

Characters Digits

s 2 and 6

y 2 and 7

a 1

r 1

os 19

l 7

The most possible relationship

o 1

ol 13

or 13

The language which is used in the Voynich

manuscript may be a branch of German. Text investigation:

Illustrations and marginal

symbols investigation:

Page 23: 2016 Masters project 141 Cracking the Voynich manuscript code

Applications

Data analysis.

Statistics.

Information Theory.

The University of Adelaide 23

Page 24: 2016 Masters project 141 Cracking the Voynich manuscript code

References

[1] Tiltman, John, “The Voynich Manuscript, The Most Mysterious Manuscript in the World”. NSA Technical Journal 12 (July 1967), pp.41-85.

[2] Feely, Joseph M, Roger Bacon's Cipher: The Right Key Found, Rochester, 1943.

[3] First Study Group (FSG)

http://www.voynich.nu/transcr.html

[4] René Zandbergen, transcription of the text, 2004 – 2016.

http://www.voynich.nu/transcr.html

The University of Adelaide 24