Online, payment or the protection of personal data exist in particular thanks to the work of a pioneer in cryptography: Shafi Goldwasser.
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Many women have had a central role in the discovery and development of innovations, such as Margaret Hamilton, who made space conquest possible, Ada Lovelace, the originator of computer language, Hedy Lamarr, who laid the foundations for wifi technology, or Shafi Goldwasser, pioneer of modern cryptography. The latter has also become the third female researcher in history to receive the prestigious A.M. Turing Award in 2012.
The concept of “mental poker” at the base of modern cryptography
First interested in writing fiction, Shafi Goldwasser was quickly seduced by the language of numbers and mathematics. It therefore embarked on this path at the end of the 1970s with, in addition, a specialization in a sector that was brand new at the time: IT. This is what will make his international reputation with in particular his work which will lay the foundations of modern cryptography. She started for this from the concept of “mental poker”, or how to practice this game remotely without having recourse to a trusted third party who guarantees that no cheating is possible. She then developed with Silvio Micali a revolutionary cryptosystem called “public key” which is based on random encryption of data. Modern cryptography was born.
Impose your ideas in a very masculine scientific and computer world
Subsequently, it evolved its cryptosystem to become “zero-knowledge proof” which enabled the protection, authenticity and confidentiality of digital information, still used today by applications such as online payment or authentication of cryptocurrencies against cyberattacks. If her recognition is worldwide today, she admits having had to fight to be taken seriously in a very masculine scientific and computer world. According to her, ” we must continue to expose these inequities throughout the scientific community to promote evidence-based change. Achieving gender equality in science will also lead to better results, better teams and better education for our children for generations to come. ».
Article written in partnership with Hello Future, Orange’s research and innovation site
