Happy Birthday Jasper Maskelyne! The War Magician.

A late posting, his birthday was actually yesterday. Maskelyne may not be the greatest magician who ever lived, but if you're a child of the Enlightenment, he may well be the most important one. Volunteering for the British Army in WWII, he used his skills and brilliance to help hinder Axis efforts to find and destroy Allied forces, ports ships, and(possibly) even the Suez Canal. There are still debates as to his importance, but I feel he did aid the war effort in a major, perhaps even crucial way, even if some of his claims were overblown.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jasper_Maskelyne