Gene Grabeel

Gene Grabeel (June 5, 1920 – January 30, 2015) was an American mathematician and cryptanalyst who founded the Venona project.

Grabeel graduated from Mars Hill College and Farmville State Teachers College (current Longwood University) and initially worked as a home economics teacher before, in 1936, beginning her 36-year career with the Army Signal Service. In 1943, she founded the Venona project, a counterintelligence program aimed at decrypting Soviet communications. After the 1995 declassification of the project, she was recognised by the CIA as an "American Hero".