Lots of really fascinating nuggets in this interview. I hadn't heard about the link between the nuclear test ban treaty negotiations and digital signatures, but it makes a lot of sense. Hellman seems very mature and gracious in his later years, making sure that people got the credit they were due, and even forgiving people who clearly wronged him (like the RSA guys who got very rich from patents, while he made almost no money from his patents).
It's interesting... RSA, intent on commercializing the technology not just patenting it won out over someone more academic who "just" created a patent. Was that just?
"I went from thinking who am I to try to do a thesis—an original contribution to research—to having it being done in such a short period of time, literally six months total. And it essentially took a few hours. In hindsight, there was this one critical breakthrough."
Very cool! I remember meeting him about that time when he came to visit Georgia Tech. His guest lecture and the marketing around it in part helped me get interested in cryptography. I later did take a graduate level applied cryptography class and did well in it. A little bit of strong, foundational cryptography knowledge has really served me well in this career.
