Three Polish mathematicians: Marian Rejewski, Jerzy Rozycki and Henryk Zygalski have been granted a prestigious Milestone award by the international association of engineers IEEE on Tuesday.

They were awarded for breaking the codes of the German Enigma cipher machine.

During the ceremony at the Warsaw University of Technology, the president of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Professor Roberto de Marca emphasized that it was a milestone which contributed to ending the Second World War and saving people’s life.

The three young mathematicians were employed in 1930 in the Cipher Bureau of the Polish Army to work out the secret operation of electromechanical German Enigma cipher machine.

They managed to read the first information in 1932. In 1939 Polish military authorities sent the copies of Enigma machine along with the information about the broken code to France and Great Britain.

According to many historians due to the fact that the Allies knew the information sent by the Enigma, World War II lasted about two to three years less.

IEEE is the world's largest association of professional technicians, engineers and scientists in the area of electrical engineering and electronics.

Milestone Award honors the academic achievements significantly changing the world. They were given, among others, to Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bells and Nikola Tesla.