Adi Shamir Israeli scientist in the field of computer systems theory, Turing Award winner. Date of Birth: 06.07.1952 Country: Israel

Biography of Adi Shamir

Adi Shamir is an Israeli scientist in the field of computer systems theory and a Turing Award laureate. He is best known for his contribution to the development of the RSA cryptographic algorithm, a public-key encryption scheme, along with Rivest and Adleman. He has also made significant contributions to the advancement of differential cryptanalysis.

Shamir obtained his Bachelor's degree from Tel Aviv University in 1973. He then pursued his higher education at the Weizmann Institute, where he earned a Master's degree in 1975 and a Ph.D. in computer science in 1977. His doctoral dissertation was titled "Fixed Points of Recursive Programs and their Relation in Differential Agard Calculus."

After completing his studies, Shamir worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom for a year. He then conducted research at MIT until 1980. Following his time at MIT, he returned to the Weizmann Institute, where he has been working ever since. Since 2006, he has also been a visiting professor at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris.

In 1979, Adi Shamir developed the secret sharing scheme, a mathematical method for dividing a "secret" among multiple "participants" for subsequent reconstruction. In 1986, he participated in the development of the authentication protocol, later known as the Feige-Fiat-Shamir protocol.

Together with his student Eli Biham, Shamir developed differential cryptanalysis, a method of attacking block ciphers. It was later revealed that this technique was already known to IBM and the United States National Security Agency, but had been kept secret.

Throughout his career, Shamir has received numerous awards and honors, including the Erdős Prize in 1983, the IEEE W. R. G. Baker Prize in 1986, the Vatican's PIUS XI Gold Medal in 1992, the Paris Kanellakis Theory and Practice Award in 1996, the IEEE Koji Kobayashi Computers and Communications Award in 2000, and the Turing Award in 2002 for his unique contribution to the practical value of public-key cryptographic systems.

In 2008, he was awarded the State Prize of Israel and the UAP Scientific Prize.