Bio

Martin E. Hellman is Professor Emeritus of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University and is affiliated with the university's Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC). His most recent work, "Rethinking National Security," identifies a number of questionable assumptions that are largely taken as axiomatic truths. A key part of that work brings a risk informed framework to a potential failure of nuclear deterrence and then finds surprising ways to reduce the risk. His earlier work included co-inventing public key cryptography, the technology that underlies the secure portion of the Internet. His many honors include election to the National Academy of Engineering and receiving (jointly with his colleague Whit Diffie) the million dollar ACM Turing Award, the top prize in computer science. In 2016, he and his wife of fifty years published "A New Map for Relationships: Creating True Love at Home & Peace on the Planet," providing a “unified field theory” for peace by illuminating the connections between nuclear war, conventional war, interpersonal war, and war within our own psyches.

Academic Appointments

Honors & Awards

  • A. M. Turing Award, ACM (2015)
  • Member, National Inventor's Hall of Fame (2011)
  • Hamming Medal, IEEE (2010)
  • Member, National Academy of Engineering (2002)
  • International Fellow, Marconi Society (2000)
  • Pioneer Award, Electronic Frontier Foundation (1994)
  • Outstanding Professor, Stanford Society of Chicano and Latino Engineers (1989)
  • Outstanding Professor, Stanford Society of Black Scientists and Engineers (1989)

Program Affiliations

  • Science, Technology and Society

Contact

  • Academic
    University - Emeritus faculty Department: Electrical Engineering Position: Emeritus Faculty, Acad Council

Additional Info

  • Mail Code: 9510

All Publications

  • Cybersecurity, Nuclear Security, Alan Turing, and Illogical Logic COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM Hellman, M. E. 2017; 60 (12): 52–59

    View details for DOI 10.1145/3104985

    View details for Web of Science ID 000417206400016

  • Cybersecurity, Nuclear Security, Alan Turing, and Illogical Logic Hellman, M. E., ACM ASSOC COMPUTING MACHINERY. 2016: 1–2

    View details for DOI 10.1145/2976749.2976757

    View details for Web of Science ID 000387820900001

  • How risky is nuclear optimism? BULLETIN OF THE ATOMIC SCIENTISTS Hellman, M. E. 2011; 67 (2): 47-56

    View details for DOI 10.1177/0096340211399873

    View details for Web of Science ID 000290351000006

  • RESPONSES TO NISTS PROPOSAL COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM Rivest, R. L., HELLMAN, M. E., Anderson, J. C., Lyons, J. W. 1992; 35 (7): 41-54

    View details for Web of Science ID A1992JA30500014

  • TIME MEMORY PROCESSOR TRADE-OFFS IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INFORMATION THEORY AMIRAZIZI, H. R., HELLMAN, M. E. 1988; 34 (3): 505-512

    View details for Web of Science ID A1988Q035700014

  • SCIENTISTS MUST HELP STOP THE ARMS-RACE (REPRINTED FROM BREAKTHROUGH EMERGING NEW THINKING, 1988) SCIENTIST Kapitza, S. P., HELLMAN, M. E. 1988; 2 (2): 22-22

    View details for Web of Science ID A1988L660700033

  • ON SECRET SHARING SYSTEMS IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INFORMATION THEORY KARNIN, E. D., Greene, J. W., HELLMAN, M. E. 1983; 29 (1): 35-41

    View details for Web of Science ID A1983PZ84700003

  • THE LARGEST SUPER-INCREASING SUBSET OF A RANDOM SET IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INFORMATION THEORY KARNIN, E. D., HELLMAN, M. E. 1983; 29 (1): 146-148

    View details for Web of Science ID A1983PZ84700016

  • ANOTHER CRYPTANALYTIC ATTACK ON A CRYPTOSYSTEM FOR MULTIPLE COMMUNICATION INFORMATION PROCESSING LETTERS HELLMAN, M. E. 1981; 12 (4): 182-183

    View details for Web of Science ID A1981MJ95200006

  • ON THE SECURITY OF MULTIPLE ENCRYPTION COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM Merkle, R. C., HELLMAN, M. E. 1981; 24 (7): 465-467

    View details for Web of Science ID A1981MB24000006

  • ON MULTIPLE ENCRYPTION SECURITY - REPLY COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM Merkle, R. C., HELLMAN, M. E. 1981; 24 (11): 776-776

    View details for Web of Science ID A1981MR62500016

  • REPORT OF THE PUBLIC CRYPTOGRAPHY STUDY-GROUP ACADEME-BULLETIN OF THE AAUP Baum, W. A., Heyman, I. M., BRANDIN, D. H., Buck, R. C., DAVIDA, G. I., Handelman, G., HELLMAN, M. E., Kaplan, W., Schwartz, D. C. 1981; 67 (6): 372-379

    View details for Web of Science ID A1981MT31300007

  • A CRYPTANALYTIC TIME-MEMORY TRADE-OFF IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INFORMATION THEORY HELLMAN, M. E. 1980; 26 (4): 401-406

    View details for Web of Science ID A1980KC82600003

  • PRIVACY AND AUTHENTICATION - INTRODUCTION TO CRYPTOGRAPHY PROCEEDINGS OF THE IEEE Diffie, W., HELLMAN, M. E. 1979; 67 (3): 397-427

    View details for Web of Science ID A1979GM54200003

  • CONVOLUTIONAL ENCODING FOR WYNER WIRETAP CHANNEL IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INFORMATION THEORY Verriest, E., HELLMAN, M. E. 1979; 25 (2): 234-236

    View details for Web of Science ID A1979GL03900020

  • FOILING COMPUTER CRIME .1. DES WILL BE TOTALLY INSECURE WITHIN 10 YEARS IEEE SPECTRUM HELLMAN, M. E. 1979; 16 (7): 32-39

    View details for Web of Science ID A1979HC20800011

  • MATHEMATICS OF PUBLIC-KEY CRYPTOGRAPHY SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN HELLMAN, M. E. 1979; 241 (2): 146-?

    View details for Web of Science ID A1979HD81700007

  • GAUSSIAN WIRE-TAP CHANNEL IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INFORMATION THEORY LEUNGYANCHEONG, S. K., HELLMAN, M. E. 1978; 24 (4): 451-456

    View details for Web of Science ID A1978FJ91500007

  • HIDING INFORMATION AND SIGNATURES IN TRAPDOOR KNAPSACKS IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INFORMATION THEORY Merkle, R. C., HELLMAN, M. E. 1978; 24 (5): 525-530

    View details for Web of Science ID A1978FQ01000001

  • IMPROVED ALGORITHM FOR COMPUTING LOGARITHMS OVER GF(P) AND ITS CRYPTOGRAPHIC SIGNIFICANCE IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INFORMATION THEORY POHLIG, S. C., HELLMAN, M. E. 1978; 24 (1): 106-110

    View details for Web of Science ID A1978EN16200013

  • EXHAUSTIVE CRYPT-ANALYSIS OF NBS DATA ENCRYPTION STANDARD COMPUTER Diffie, W., HELLMAN, M. E. 1977; 10 (6): 74-84

    View details for Web of Science ID A1977DK09400011

  • COMPUTER ENCRYPTION - KEY SIZE SCIENCE HELLMAN, M. E. 1977; 198 (4312): 8-8

    View details for Web of Science ID A1977DV64200003

    View details for PubMedID 17741872

  • EXTENSION OF SHANNON THEORY APPROACH TO CRYPTOGRAPHY IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INFORMATION THEORY HELLMAN, M. E. 1977; 23 (3): 289-294

    View details for Web of Science ID A1977DE13100001

  • NOTE ON WYNERS WIRETAP CHANNEL IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INFORMATION THEORY CARLEIAL, A. B., HELLMAN, M. E. 1977; 23 (3): 387-390

    View details for Web of Science ID A1977DE13100013

  • CONCERNING A BOUND ON UNDETECTED ERROR PROBABILITY IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INFORMATION THEORY LEUNGYANCHEONG, S. K., HELLMAN, M. E. 1976; 22 (2): 235-237

    View details for Web of Science ID A1976BG53900016

  • OPTIMAL FINITE MEMORY LEARNING ALGORITHMS FOR FINITE SAMPLE PROBLEM INFORMATION AND CONTROL COVER, T. M., Freedman, M. A., HELLMAN, M. E. 1976; 30 (1): 49-85

    View details for Web of Science ID A1976BG52800004

  • NEW DIRECTIONS IN CRYPTOGRAPHY IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INFORMATION THEORY Diffie, W., HELLMAN, M. E. 1976; 22 (6): 644-654

    View details for Web of Science ID A1976CQ59200001

  • CONVOLUTIONAL SOURCE ENCODING IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INFORMATION THEORY HELLMAN, M. E. 1975; 21 (6): 651-656

    View details for Web of Science ID A1975AU04800007

  • ERROR DETECTION IN PRESENCE OF SYNCHRONIZATION LOSS IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMMUNICATIONS HELLMAN, M. E. 1975; CO23 (5): 538-539

    View details for Web of Science ID A1975W304200006

  • TREE CODING WITH A FIDELITY CRITERION IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INFORMATION THEORY DAVIS, C. R., HELLMAN, M. E. 1975; 21 (4): 373-378

    View details for Web of Science ID A1975AG73400003

  • BISTABLE BEHAVIOR OF ALOHA-TYPE SYSTEMS IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMMUNICATIONS CARLEIAL, A. B., HELLMAN, M. E. 1975; CO23 (4): 401-410

    View details for Web of Science ID A1975V993600001

  • FINITE-MEMORY ALGORITHMS FOR ESTIMATING MEAN OF A GAUSSIAN DISTRIBUTION IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INFORMATION THEORY HELLMAN, M. E. 1974; 20 (3): 382-384

    View details for Web of Science ID A1974T037500015

  • USING NATURAL REDUNDANCY FOR ERROR DETECTION IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMMUNICATIONS HELLMAN, M. E. 1974; CO22 (10): 1690-1693

    View details for Web of Science ID A1974U264200024