Adi Shamir

Adi Shamir is a world-renowned cryptographer currently serving as a Professor in the Department of Applied Mathematics at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel since 1984, with an additional position as Invited Professor at École Normale Supérieure in Paris since 2006.

Dr. Shamir earned his BSc in Mathematics from Tel Aviv University in 1973, followed by MSc and PhD in Computer Science from the Weizmann Institute in 1975 and 1977 respectively. His academic career began with a postdoctoral position at Warwick University (1976) and faculty appointments at MIT (1977-1980) before returning to the Weizmann Institute.

Shamir's research spans cryptography, computer security, and theoretical computer science. He is most famous for co-inventing the RSA public-key cryptography algorithm with Ronald Rivest and Leonard Adleman, for which they received the ACM Turing Award in 2002. His other seminal contributions include Shamir's Secret Sharing scheme, differential cryptanalysis (with Eli Biham), identity-based cryptography, and visual cryptography (with Moni Naor).

His publication record shows consistent innovation from foundational work in the 1970s through to significant contributions in the 2000s. His most recent works focus on identity-based encryption schemes while his earlier publications established fundamental cryptographic techniques that continue to influence modern security systems.

Dr. Shamir has received numerous prestigious awards recognizing his contributions to computer science and cryptography.

• ACM Turing Award (2002)
• Israel Prize (2008)
• Election to both the Israeli Academy of Science (1998) and US National Academy of Sciences (2005)
• IEEE Koji Kobayashi Computers and Communications Award (2000)

As an educator and mentor, Dr. Shamir has guided significant talent in the field, most notably Eli Biham with whom he developed differential cryptanalysis. His work has had profound practical impact, forming the mathematical foundation for secure internet communications used by billions worldwide.