2002 · Cryptography & quantum
RSA made public-key cryptography a concrete mathematical construction.
Visual guide
Make the public key available.
Transform the message with that key.
Use the private key to recover it.
Public-key techniques made it possible to establish secure relationships without first sharing the same secret key.
Security depends on appropriate parameters, padding and implementation; textbook RSA alone is not a safe messaging system.
01 · The idea
Ronald Rivest, Adi Shamir and Leonard Adleman developed RSA. Public information can be used to encrypt a message, while a related private key enables decryption. The construction uses number-theoretic operations with deliberately different computational roles, and it also supports digital signatures.
Public-key techniques made it possible to establish secure relationships without first sharing the same secret key.
02 · The people
Adi Shamir co-invented the RSA public-key cryptosystem with Ronald Rivest and Leonard Adleman during their collaboration at MIT. His broader research includes secret sharing, cryptanalysis, and the mathematical foundations of security. At the Weizmann Institute, he continued to investigate both the construction of cryptographic systems and attacks that reveal their limits. His work illustrates how designing protection and understanding weaknesses advance together.
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Leonard Adleman co-developed RSA with Ronald Rivest and Adi Shamir, contributing to a practical public-key approach to encryption and digital signatures. His research connects number theory, algorithms, and computational complexity. At the University of Southern California, he also pioneered DNA computing by demonstrating how molecular operations could solve a small computational problem. His career explores computation through both mathematical structures and unconventional physical media.
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Ronald Rivest co-invented RSA with Adi Shamir and Leonard Adleman at MIT. The system showed how separate public and private keys could support encryption and digital signatures using arithmetic on large integers. Rivest’s wider work includes algorithms, symmetric cryptography, and voting security. He has combined theoretical analysis with practical designs, helping make cryptographic methods part of everyday digital communication and commerce.
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Original explanations based on the official award record. The subject label is an editorial navigation aid.
Quantum physics became a resource for secure communication and computation.
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Public-key methods changed how strangers could establish secure communication.
The story