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Turing Laureate Whitfield Diffie joins ZJU as full-time professor

2018-07-05

World-renowned pioneer of public-key cryptography Bailey Whitfield Diffie joined ZJU today as full-time professor and honorary director of ZJU’s Institute of Cyber Security Research. His course in cyber security will be open to graduate students in October.

Professor Diffie shared the 2015 Turing Award with Martin Hellman for their profound contributions to modern cryptography. Their groundbreaking paper, “New Directions in Cryptography”, introduced a new method of distributing cryptographic keys, later known as Diffie–Hellman key exchange.

“Recognition by universities matters to me more than recognition by other institutions,” said Professor Diffie. “I look forward to working together with researchers here, and perhaps, accomplishing new things that I would have not been able to accomplish.”

“I believe Professor Diffie’s joining us as a full-time faculty member will reinforce our academic strength in information technology and other related fields,” said President WU Zhaohui. “We’ll see to it that the working environment facilitates his research.”

After the appointment ceremony, Professor Diffie gave a lecture at Qiushi Hall, sharing his insights on the evolution of cryptography and encouraging students to open their mind and use their imagination in their research.


Image Credit: HE Jiawen