Scientist

Gilles Brassard

1955 – present · quantum cryptography, quantum information, quantum computing
Canadian scientist in quantum information. One of the inventors of quantum cryptography — together with Charles Bennett proposed the BB84 protocol, which became the first practical method of quantum key distribution. He also made fundamental contributions to quantum teleportation, quantum error correction, and other areas.

Biography

Received his PhD from the University of Montreal, where he teaches. Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and the Royal Society of London. Awarded the Wolf Prize in Physics and other honors for creating the foundations of quantum information science.

Key discoveries

💡 Brassard calls himself a "zeroth-generation quantum programmer" and regrets that he won't live to see the day when quantum computers become commonplace.
"He realized that the laws of quantum mechanics are not an obstacle to secure communication, but its most reliable ally."
Concepts
superpositionquantum optics
Laws
no-cloning theorem
Scientists
Charles TownesAlain AspectDavid DeutschLouis de BroglieShuji NakamuraAlbert A. MichelsonSerge HarocheJohn Clauser

Related articles

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Quantum Mind? Can't Do Without the Classical
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Quantum Elections: No One Will Know Your Vote
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Quantum Teleportation: Record Accuracy in Real Time
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Quantum Copying: Encryption Beats the Ban
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A Message That Cannot Be Copied
In the quantum world, you cannot create a copy of an unknown particle's state – this was established by William Wootters and Wojciech Zurek in 1982, and Charles Bennett turned this prohibition into a data protection tool.