Cryptography in a quantum world //

Although practised as an art and science for ages, cryptography had to wait until the mid- twentieth century before Claude Shannon gave it a strong mathematical foundation. However, Shannon’s approach was rooted in his own information theory, itself inspired by the classical physics of Newton and Einstein. When quantum theory is taken into account, new vistas open up both for codemakers and codebreakers. Is this a blessing or a curse for the protection of privacy? As we shall see, it can go both ways, with an emphasis on quantum cryptography, from its humble origins more than a half-century ago to its glorious future.

This is joint work with Charles H. Bennett.

Bio: Professor of computer science at the Université de Montréal since 1979, Gilles Brassard laid the foundations of quantum cryptography at a time when nobody could have predicted that the quantum information revolution would usher in a multi- billion dollar industry. He is also among the inventors of quantum teleportation, which is one of the most fundamental pillars of the theory of quantum information. Fellow of the Royal Society of London and the International Association for Cryptologic Research, International Member of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States, and Officer of the Orders of Canada and Québec, his many accolades include the Wolf Prize in Physics, the Micius Quantum Prize, the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Basic Sciences and the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics. He has been granted honorary doctorates from ETH Zürich, the University of Ottawa and Università della Svizzera italiana in Lugano.