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Ronald Lorin Rivest

An MIT professor, the ‘R’ behind RSA, Ronald Rivest is one of those cryptographers who has made a distinct mark in cryptography’s history. Born in 1947, he is currently a member of National Academy of Engineering, CSAIL (MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory), American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the International Association for Cryptographic Research among many others. Along with his fellow co-inventors of RSA, he received the Alan Turing Award in 2002, the IEEE Koji Kobayashi Computers and Communications Award and the Secure Computing Lifetime Achievement Award. He co-authored “Introduction to algorithms” and has done extensive research in cryptanalysis. Inventor of RC2, RC4, RC5, and co-inventor of RC6 (RC: Rivest’s Cipher/ Ron’s Code), his interests lie in network security and algorithms in general. His interest in electronic voting led to the invention of the innovative three ballot voting system. This essentially allowed a voter to determine whether or not his vote had been taken into account, with the guarantee that his privacy will still be protected. His other accomplishments include an honorary degree (the "laurea honoris causa") from the University of Rome and the MITX Lifetime Achievement Award. He authored the MD2, MD4 and MD5 cryptographic hash functions and has worked extensively in the areas of computer algorithms, machine learning, and VLSI design. He also founded Perppercoin and RSA security. He has recounted that he learnt that he should try to solve real world problems and emphasize on cryptographic theory while inventing the RSA.

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