01 · A life in computing
The person behind the work
Shafi Goldwasser helped establish modern cryptography through precise security definitions and mathematical proofs. Her joint work with Silvio Micali introduced probabilistic encryption, while work with Micali and Charles Rackoff introduced zero-knowledge proofs. These ideas showed how randomness can protect information and how a claim can be proved without revealing its underlying secret. She held appointments at both MIT and the Weizmann Institute when the award was announced.
The contribution, explained
Shafi Goldwasser and Silvio Micali helped establish rigorous complexity-based foundations for cryptography. Their work included probabilistic encryption and interactive proofs, including zero knowledge. A verifier can gain confidence that a statement is true while learning no additional information from the proof beyond the statement’s validity.
Why it matters
Precise security definitions and proof techniques changed cryptography from a collection of clever schemes into a mathematical science.