01 · The idea
In everyday language
Avi Wigderson reshaped understanding of randomness in computation and made broad contributions to theoretical computer science. Randomised algorithms can be powerful, but can their random choices be replaced by deterministic constructions? Work on pseudorandomness and derandomisation links that question to the difficulty of other computational problems.
Why it matters
These connections reveal that algorithm design, computational hardness and pseudorandomness are parts of a common theory.
