Gilles Brassard is a faculty member of the Université de Montréal, where he has been a Full Professor since 1988 and Canada Research Chair since 2001.[ The Governor General of Canada's web page announcing appointment of Brassard to Order of Canada.]
Education and early life
Brassard received a Ph.D. in
Computer Science from Cornell University in 1979, working in the field of
cryptography with
John Hopcroft as his advisor.
Research
Brassard is best known for his fundamental work in quantum cryptography, quantum teleportation, quantum entanglement distillation, quantum pseudo-telepathy, and the classical simulation of quantum entanglement.
[ Herzberg runner-up: Gilles Brassard, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, retrieved January 24, 2010.] Some of these concepts have been implemented in the laboratory.
In 1984, together with Charles H. Bennett, he invented the BB84 protocol for quantum cryptography.[.] He later extended this work to include the Cascade error correction protocol, which performs efficient detection and correction of noise caused by eavesdropping on quantum cryptographic signals.
Awards and honours
Brassard was the editor-in-chief of the
Journal of Cryptology from 1991 to 1998.
In 2000, he won the Prix Marie-Victorin, the highest scientific award of the government of Quebec.
[ Les Prix du Québec – le lauréat Gilles Brassard, retrieved January 24, 2010.] He was elected as a
Fellow of the International Association for Cryptologic Research in 2006,
[ Gilles Brassard, IACR Fellow, 2006, International Association for Cryptologic Research, retrieved January 24, 2010.] the first Canadian to be so honored.
In June 2010, he was awarded the Gerhard Herzberg Canada Gold Medal,
[ Les chercheurs de l'UdeM remportent trois prix nationaux en sciences , retrieved June 20, 2010.] Canada's highest scientific honour.
[ NSERC – Herzberg – About the Award] Brassard was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada
and the Royal Society of London (2013).
His nomination reads: On December 30, 2013, the Governor-General of Canada, the Right Honourable David Johnston, announced that Gilles Brassard has been named as an Officer in the Order Of Canada. In 2018, he received the Wolf Prize in Physics
[ Wolf Prize 2018] and in 2019 the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Basic Sciences.
[ BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award 2019] as well as the Micius Quantum Prize.
In September 2022, Brassard was awarded the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, the world’s largest science prize.[ Eduard Rhein Foundation Prize 2023]
