135-Year Old Code Mystery Highlights Forgotten Era of Meteorology - Popular Mechanics Article - A Woman Hid This Secret Code in Her Silk Dress in 1888—and Codebreakers Just Solved It

For a decade, codebreakers have tried—and failed—to solve the case of the crumpled paper that was found stuffed in a secret pocket under the bustle and inside the seams of a silk dress from the 1880s. Over the years, the mystery even earned its own moniker: The Silk Dress Cryptogram.

Now, we have some answers—and they come from unlikely sources: the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and a data analyst at the University of Manitoba.