Leon Battista Alberti was an Italian Renaissance humanist author, artist, architect, poet, priest, linguist, philosopher, and cryptographer; he epitomised the nature of those identified now as polymaths. He is considered the founder of European cryptography, a claim he shares with Johannes Trithemius. February 23, 1404 – April 3, 1472; died at 68. Alive at the same time as Leonardo da Vinci, Christopher Columbus, Joan of Arc, Jan Hus, and Jan van Eyck. Wiki link