Science·

Canadian Computer Scientist Gilles Brassard Wins A.M. Turing Award for Quantum Cryptography

A Canadian computer scientist is one of this year's recipients of the A.M. Turing Prize, nicknamed the Nobel Prize of computing. Université de Montréal professor Gilles Brassard won the award alongside IBM Research scientist Charles H. Bennett.

Why it matters

Brassard and Bennett's foundational work on quantum key distribution — a method of secure communication that cannot be intercepted without detection — is now directly relevant to protecting sensitive communications in an era when quantum computers threaten to break current encryption methods.

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