Nyctography

High school (ages 12+)
Thinking & Learning

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/nyctography

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the inventor?Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson)
2. What is the year of conception?1891
3. Why did Lewis Carroll invent nyctography?He wanted to write quickly at night without turning on a lamp that would wake him up. It kept his thoughts and sleep together.
4. How does nyctography work?It starts with a dot in the upper left corner of a grid. Then you add dots and short strokes to represent letters, numbers, or words.

Nyctography: A specialized writing system and substitution cipher developed by Lewis Carroll for nocturnal use.
Nyctograph: The physical apparatus invented by Lewis Carroll to implement the nyctography writing method.
Substitution Cipher: A cryptographic technique where plaintext characters are replaced by ciphertext characters according to a defined system.