2025 Turing Award Announced: Two Developers of the World's First Quantum Key Distribution Protocol Win the Prize

Deep Tide TechFlow News, March 19 — According to Caixin, the Turing Award, often referred to as the “Nobel Prize of Computing,” was awarded to American IBM Fellow Charles H. Bennett and Professor Gilles Brassard of the Department of Computer Science and Operations Research at the University of Montreal, Canada. Both are recognized as pioneers in quantum information science. Their most famous achievement, the BB84 protocol, is the world’s first quantum key distribution (QKD) protocol, marking the birth of quantum cryptography.

As quantum computing rapidly advances, traditional public key encryption systems face serious challenges. Quantum communication (QKD) and post-quantum cryptography (PQC) have become the dual core pathways to ensure the security of future digital communications. Bennett and Brassard’s collaboration began in 1979, when Brassard reportedly explained an idea to Bennett: using quantum mechanics to create “unforgeable banknotes.”