Leonard Adleman
Updated: 12/30/2019 by Computer Hope
Name: Leonard Max Adleman
Born: December 31, 1945, in California, USA
Computer-related contributions
- Widely called the Father of DNA Computing.
- American theoretical computer scientist and professor of Computer Science and molecular biology at the University of Southern California.
- Known for being a co-inventor of the RSA (Rivest–Shamir–Adleman) cryptosystem in 1977, and of DNA computing. RSA is in widespread use in security applications, including https.
- Fred Cohen, in his 1984 paper "Experiments with Computer Viruses," has credited Adleman with coining the term "virus."
Significant publications
- An Abstract Theory of Computer Viruses (1990).
Honors and awards
- Elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2006).
- ACM Turing Award (2002).
- Recipient of the Paris Kanellakis Theory and Practice Award (1996).
Quotes
"If you can programme events at a molecular level in cells, you can cure or kill cells which are sick or in trouble and leave the other ones intact. You cannot do this with electronics."