[Cryptography] 40 years of "Diffie-Hellman"

[Bill Frantz]

On 6/26/16 at 10:11 AM, bear at sonic.net (Ray Dillinger) wrote:
>On 06/23/2016 05:29 PM, Tony Arcieri wrote:
>>http://cryptologicfoundation.org/learn/educate/bytes/this_day_in_histor=
>y_calendar.html/event/2016/06/23/1466658000/1976-diffie-and-hellman-prese=
>nted-public-key-exchange-idea-/98292
>>=20
>>Of course, the historically savvy crypto-enthusiast recognizes the
>>algorithm we call "Diffie-Hellman" was actually invented by Malcolm
>>Williamson at GCHQ in 1974:
>>=20
>>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_J._Williamson
>>=20
>>He died last September. RIP.
>
>Maybe, but it's arguable whether it counts if he didn't publish.
>The world at large didn't benefit from his invention of it, but
>we all benefit from Diffie and Hellman's (re)invention of it. I
>say credit where credit's due means give the credit to the guys
>who did something that gives the world a benefit. It's not like
>they stole it from him.

The way I like to think about this kind of situation is the 
Columbus was the last person to discover America. We all know 
that many other people had discovered America before Columbus, 
including the people who immigrated over the Bering Straight and 
Leif Ericson. But after Columbus announced his discovery, no one 
else could make a credible claim to having discovered America.

In the case of Malcolm Williamson, he was working for GCHQ and 
everything he invented was classified.

Cheers - Bill

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