Alumni Doctoral Alum Wins Turing Award, the ‘Nobel Prize of Computing’ Stories You May Like ‘Science Guy’ Bill Nye ’77 Awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom Meet Some of the (Many!) Cornellians Who’ve Won the Nobel ‘Upside-Down Rhinos’ Study Is Latest Big Red Research to Win an Ig Nobel Gilles Brassard, PhD ’79, was honored for foundational work in quantum information science and new encryption technology Editor’s note: This story was adapted from a feature in the Cornell Chronicle. By Patricia Waldron Gilles Brassard, PhD ’79, has received the 2025 Turing Award from the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), jointly with Charles Bennett, for founding the field of quantum information science and for new encryption technology for secure communication and computing. Commonly referred to as the “Nobel Prize of computing,” the Turing Award comes with a $1 million prize. It is named for Alan Turing, the British mathematician and parent of theoretical computer science. Brassard is a Canadian computer scientist and faculty member at the University of Montreal, where he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees. At age 24, he received his PhD in theoretical computer science from Cornell—working with John Hopcroft, professor emeritus of computer science and a 1986 Turing Award recipient. Hatim Kaghat Brassard met Bennett, a physicist at IBM Research, in 1979 while the two were swimming off the coast of Puerto Rico. Brassard was taking a break from a conference on theoretical computing, where he was presenting his graduate work on the mathematical foundations of cryptography. Bennett swam up to him and proposed an idea for a bank note that couldn’t be counterfeited based on principles of quantum mechanics—the behavior of light and matter, often at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles. At age 24, Brassard received his PhD in theoretical computer science from Cornell—working with John Hopcroft, professor emeritus of computer science and a 1986 Turing Award recipient. Their collaboration led to the development of quantum cryptography—the application of quantum mechanics to encrypt, transmit, and decode information securely. Their system, named BB84, used particles of light to make encryption keys that could lock and unlock digital data. Thanks to the laws of quantum mechanics, anyone who tried to hack the key would leave telltale traces the information was compromised. Stories You May Like ‘Science Guy’ Bill Nye ’77 Awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom Meet Some of the (Many!) Cornellians Who’ve Won the Nobel wikimedia commonsAlan Turing, the award's namesake. “Gilles Brassard’s BB84 protocol laid the foundation for quantum information science and reshaped the future of secure communication,” says Lorenzo Alvisi, PhD ’96, the Tisch University Professor in Computer Science and chair of the department. “We are proud to count him among our Cornell graduates, whose achievements continue to amplify the department’s legacy of groundbreaking theoretical computer science—a tradition exemplified by his adviser, John Hopcroft.” (A talk that Brassard gave at the Royal Society in London marking the centennial of quantum theory can be viewed here.) Quantum cryptography is emerging as an important method to ensure the security of digital communication. Newer versions of BB84 have been deployed in quantum communication networks, through both landlines and satellites. In later work, Brassard and Bennett demonstrated quantum teleportation—the idea that quantum information could be transmitted between distant locations using quantum entanglement, a phenomenon where the quantum state of two particles remains connected, even when they are too far apart to influence each other. Gilles Brassard’s BB84 protocol laid the foundation for quantum information science and reshaped the future of secure communication. Prof. Lorenzo Alvisi, PhD ’96, chair of computer science Advances in quantum entanglement may one day lead to the growth of quantum networks and even a quantum internet that will transmit quantum information securely worldwide. “Bennett and Brassard fundamentally changed our understanding of information itself,” ACM president Yannis Ioannidis said in a statement. “Their insights expanded the boundaries of computing and set in motion decades of discovery across disciplines. The global momentum behind quantum technologies today underscores the enduring importance of their contributions.” Published March 20, 2026 Leave a Comment Cancel replyOnce your comment is approved, your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *Comment * Name * Class Year Email * Save my name, email, and class year in this browser for the next time I comment. Δ Other stories You may like Campus & Beyond Bear Ears to a Mini McGraw Tower: Our 2025 Cornell Store Gift Guide Students Fur Above: Big Red Bears Bring Touchdown to Life Alumni The Cornellian Behind the Slogan ‘Ithaca is Gorges’