Henry Russell

writer, thinker, builder.

LinkedIn/in/henry-russell-147a1834a Email[email protected]


Who I am

Name
Henry Russell
Focus
Economics, Philosophy, Policy, Politics, Technology, Science, and Writing.
Education
Gettysburg Area High School (Sophomore).
Employment
Freelance Journalist at the Gettysburg Times.

Journalism & contests

2025–Gettysburg Times
Freelance reporter on the GASD beat. byline → (partial).
2026–The Centrifuge
Staff writer at a student-run STEM magazine. link →
2026–Synthica
Associate editor, mathematics.
2026Non-Trivial
Selective research fellowship (RFP). Studied research and its role in effective altruism.
2024Hershey Story Writing Contest
Second, 2024 cycle.
2025American Legion Writing Contest
Second, 2025 cycle.

Projects

01

FILECHAT

2025

A peer-to-peer, end-to-end encrypted, serverless web chatroom. Key exchange runs over ECDH P-256, messages are sealed with AES-GCM, and there is no host in the middle. It self-updates with cryptographic signatures.

HTML/JS/CSSDecentralizedECDH + AES-GCMOpen Source

Try FILECHAT
  1. 1. Pick a curve

    Both sides agree on the same elliptic curve up front. P-256 is the standard safe pick, and the curve is fully public. The secrecy comes later.

  2. 2. Private numbers

    Alice picks a random integer a, Bob picks b. These are the secrets of the handshake. They never leave the machine that generated them.

  3. 3. Publish

    Each side multiplies the base point G by their private. Alice sends A = aG; Bob sends B = bG. Both points cross the wire in plain view.

  4. 4. Mix

    Each side multiplies the received point by its own private. Alice gets aB, Bob gets bA, and both land on the same curve point. Nobody on the wire can produce it without one of the two privates.

  5. 5. Derive

    The shared point gets hashed through SHA-256 into a clean 256-bit key. AES-GCM takes it from there. Every byte on the wire is encrypted and authenticated.

  6. 6. Eavesdropper

    Mallory sees both A and B on the wire. To get the key she needs a from A or b from B. That's the elliptic-curve discrete-log problem; on P-256, nobody knows how.

1 / 6
02

Number Bases

2026

An interactive explanation of how number bases work: from tally marks to negabinary to base phi. You learn by building the number system yourself.

InteractiveMathWebsite

Explore Bases
03

Human Kiloannum Clock

2025–102025

An art piece of 3D-printed cubes that can represent any 5-digit number, built to last 100,000 years and updated by hand. Akin to the Long Now clock, it touches existential risk, decay, environmental impact, and industrial reliability. The widget below approximates the cubes.

ArtPhysical

How do number bases work?
five digits, 00000 to 99999

Competitions & clubs

2022–Technology Student Association
Reporter, 2026–27. One nationals first; three nationals placed (of three qualified); three states attended (of four qualified); many regional places.
2025–Future Business Leaders of America
2nd, Banking & Financial Systems, PA states. Attending the 2026 National Leadership Conference (NLC).
2025–Speech and Debate
NSDA national circuit, NCFL. PHSSL Parliamentary: 6th states, 2nd districts.
2025–Mock Trial
Team member.
2025–Philosophy Club
Founded. Rigorous discussions and occasional visiting talks.
2025–Student Council
Co-Treasurer, 2026–27. Runs the school food-service Instagram.

Ask Henry


Contact

Reach out. I respond in a timely manner, depending on how you send the message. Thanks!

To[email protected]

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