Cryptography has come a long way since invisible ink and secret decoder rings. Today we rely on the magic of prime numbers to keep our online transactions and records secure.
On April 13 in Santa Fe, SFI Professor Cris Moore gave an SFI community lecture titled "Sending Secrets: Security and Cryptography In a Quantum World" in which he describes the history of cryptography from the era of the Romans to the present, discusses how modern cryptosystems work and how a future quantum computer would break them, and provides a personal view about whether quantum computers can be built – and what kinds of cryptography could remain secure even if and when they are built.
Watch the video of his lecture (70 minutes)
Moore is an SFI Professor and professor of computer science, physics, and astronomy at the University of New Mexico.
Generous support for this SFI public lecture was provided by Los Alamos National Bank and Joy and Philip LeCuyer.
Listen to Moore's interview on KSFR's Santa Fe Radio Cafe (April 13, 2011, 24 minutes)
Read the article in the Santa Fe New Mexican(April 13, 2011)
Learn more about SFI's 2011 community lecture series