Leonard Adleman

Updated: 12/30/2019 by Computer Hope
Leonard Adleman

Name: Leonard Max Adleman

Born: December 31, 1945, in California, USA

Computer-related contributions

  • Widely called the Father of DNA Computing.
  • American theoretical computer scientist and professor of Computer Science and molecular biology at the University of Southern California.
  • Known for being a co-inventor of the RSA (Rivest–Shamir–Adleman) cryptosystem in 1977, and of DNA computing. RSA is in widespread use in security applications, including https.
  • Fred Cohen, in his 1984 paper "Experiments with Computer Viruses," has credited Adleman with coining the term "virus."

Significant publications

  • An Abstract Theory of Computer Viruses (1990).

Honors and awards

  • Elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2006).
  • ACM Turing Award (2002).
  • Recipient of the Paris Kanellakis Theory and Practice Award (1996).

Quotes

"If you can programme events at a molecular level in cells, you can cure or kill cells which are sick or in trouble and leave the other ones intact. You cannot do this with electronics."

Related computer pioneers

Websites