In the mid 1970s, a hippie totally obsessed with encryption collaborated with Martin E. Hellman at Stanford University. Hellman was on the Mathematics faculty, and was instantly fascinated with this long-haired beatnick with an oversized brain.
After many false starts, this hippie stumbled upon the solution to split-key encryption. He and Martin Hellman jointly published a landmark paper in 1976 that would pave the way for all the electronic secure transactions conducted today.
This genius could never complete a course of graduate studies, but was subsequently awarded an [i]honorary[/i] doctorate, and currently occupies a prestigious appointment at Sun Microsystems.
What is the name of this hippie? I award [i]thumbs[/i] for the correct answer.
Hint:
http://tinyurl.com/3ouep4
Rick/Portland, OR