Shafi Goldwasser facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Shafi Goldwasser
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| שפרירה גולדווסר | |
Goldwasser in 2010
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Shafrira Goldwasser
1959 (age 65–66) New York City, United States
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| Education | Carnegie Mellon University (BS) University of California, Berkeley (MS, PhD) |
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| Spouse(s) | Nir Shavit |
| Children | 2 |
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| Fields | Computer science, cryptography |
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| Thesis | Probabilistic Encryption: Theory and Applications (1984) |
| Doctoral advisor | Manuel Blum |
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Shafrira Goldwasser, also known as Shafi Goldwasser, was born in 1959. She is a brilliant computer scientist from both Israel and the United States. She won the prestigious Turing Award in 2012, which is like the Nobel Prize for computer science. Shafi Goldwasser is a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Weizmann Institute of Science. She also helped start a company called Duality Technologies, where she is the chief scientist.
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Early Life and Education
Shafi Goldwasser was born in New York City. She earned her first degree in mathematics and science in 1979 from Carnegie Mellon University. She then went on to study computer science at the University of California, Berkeley. There, she received her master's degree in 1981 and her PhD in 1984.
While at Berkeley, she worked with her professor, Manuel Blum. Together, they created an important system called the Blum-Goldwasser cryptosystem. This was a big step in keeping information safe online.
Career and Research in Computer Science
Shafi Goldwasser joined MIT in 1983. In 1997, she became the first person to hold the special RSA Professorship there. Since 1993, she has also been a professor at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. She is part of a group at MIT that studies the theory of how computers work.
In 2005, Goldwasser was chosen to be a member of the National Academy of Engineering. This was for her amazing work in cryptography, which is the science of secure communication. She also contributed to number theory and how complex computer problems are solved. In 2006, Berkeley honored her with a special award for her achievements in computer science.
Revolutionizing Cryptography
Shafi Goldwasser received the 2012 Turing Award along with Silvio Micali. They won this award for "revolutionizing the science of cryptography." This means their work completely changed how we think about and create secure digital systems.
Since November 2016, Goldwasser has been the chief scientist and a co-founder of Duality Technologies. This company helps keep data safe using advanced methods of cryptography. She also advises other technology companies that focus on security.
From January 2018 to August 2024, she was the director of the Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing at Berkeley.
Key Research Areas
Goldwasser's research focuses on several important areas. These include computational complexity theory, which looks at how hard problems are for computers to solve. She also works on cryptography and computational number theory.
She helped invent something called probabilistic encryption. This method made data encryption much more secure. It set a very high standard for keeping information private.
Goldwasser also co-invented zero-knowledge proofs. Imagine you want to prove you know a secret without actually telling anyone the secret. That's what a zero-knowledge proof does! It shows something is true without giving away any extra information. These proofs are very important for designing secure online systems.
Her work in complexity theory also helped classify how difficult certain problems are. She showed that some problems are still hard to solve even if you only need an approximate answer. She also pioneered ways to let computers do tasks for you, even if you don't fully trust the computer.
Goldwasser also worked with Joe Kilian to invent a way to prove if a number is prime using special curves called elliptic curves. She is also involved in Project CETI. This project is an exciting effort to understand how sperm whales communicate.
Awards and Honors
Shafi Goldwasser has received many awards for her groundbreaking work. She won the Turing Award in 2012, which is one of the highest honors in computer science.
She has won the Gödel Prize twice, in 1993 and 2001. This prize is for outstanding papers in theoretical computer science. Other awards include the ACM Grace Murray Hopper Award in 1996 for young computer professionals. In 1998, she received the RSA Award for Excellence in Mathematics for her contributions to cryptography.
In 2001, she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2004, she joined the National Academy of Sciences, and in 2005, the National Academy of Engineering. She was also recognized as an IACR Fellow in 2007.
Goldwasser received the Athena Lecturer Award in 2008-2009. In 2010, she was awarded the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Computer and Cognitive Science. She also received the IEEE Emanuel R. Piore Award in 2011. In 2018, she received the Frontier of Knowledge award.
In 2017, Goldwasser was elected as an ACM Fellow. She has also received honorary degrees from Carnegie Mellon University in 2018 and the University of Oxford in 2019.
Shafi Goldwasser is featured in the Notable Women in Computing cards. She won the Suffrage Science award in 2016. In 2021, she was awarded the L’Oréal-UNESCO for Women in Science Award in Computer Science.
Personal Life
Shafi Goldwasser is married to another computer scientist, Nir Shavit. They have two sons.
See also
In Spanish: Shafrira Goldwasser para niños
