4 ms·

For those like me, who are confused by the acronym DHMW, it's another name for 'Diffie-Helman'. Diffie and Helman felt that the entire scheme was based on work

For those like me, who are confused by the acronym DHMW, it's another name for 'Diffie-Helman'. Diffie and Helman felt that the entire scheme was based on work that Ralph Merkle did (same guy as Merkle Trees), and so should be included in the scheme name, and I think that Williamson refers to Malcolm J. Williamson, a GHCQ employee, who had secretly developed the same system 7 years before Diffie and Helman. What I don't know is why Williamson and not Cocks and Ellis are part of the acronym.

ColinWright 7y ago
Cocks and Ellis developed what we know as RSA, Malcolm Williamson developed what most people call Diffie-Hellman. I did give the full version before the acronym on the fifth line of my comment, so if people are confused it might be why I'm referring to DHMW and not just DH. Reading up about it all it's pretty clear that Merkle and Williamson should get more credit than they do.
- dwoozle 7y ago
  Nobody should get credit for inventing something in secret. You make your decision — invent for corporations or the military industrial complex and get the big bucks or the jingoistic frisson, or for academia and get the accolades. No way a person should double dip.
  - ZenPsycho 7y ago
    so you would revoke credit from Turing?
    - cortesoft 7y ago
      Did anyone else discover what he did before his work became public?
      - ZenPsycho 7y ago
        yep, eniac and univac were the the first publicly known computers. it became known later that turing’s work predated eniac.
    - dTal 7y ago
      Credit for what? The theoretical work for which Turing is most known - the concept of Turing machines and undecidability - was published publicly and before the war. He did not contribute to the design of a physical computer until after the war. Colossus, the code-breaking "computer", was not of his design (and the man who did design it is not at all famous for it).
  - ColinWright 7y ago
    It's not a question of credit, it's a question of attribution and historical accuracy.

ColinWright 7y ago

Cocks and Ellis developed what we know as RSA, Malcolm Williamson developed what most people call Diffie-Hellman. I did give the full version before the acronym on the fifth line of my comment, so if people are confused it might be why I'm referring to DHMW and not just DH. Reading up about it all it's pretty clear that Merkle and Williamson should get more credit than they do.

dwoozle 7y ago
Nobody should get credit for inventing something in secret. You make your decision — invent for corporations or the military industrial complex and get the big bucks or the jingoistic frisson, or for academia and get the accolades. No way a person should double dip.
- ZenPsycho 7y ago
  so you would revoke credit from Turing?
  - cortesoft 7y ago
    Did anyone else discover what he did before his work became public?
    - ZenPsycho 7y ago
      yep, eniac and univac were the the first publicly known computers. it became known later that turing’s work predated eniac.
  - dTal 7y ago
    Credit for what? The theoretical work for which Turing is most known - the concept of Turing machines and undecidability - was published publicly and before the war. He did not contribute to the design of a physical computer until after the war. Colossus, the code-breaking "computer", was not of his design (and the man who did design it is not at all famous for it).
- ColinWright 7y ago
  It's not a question of credit, it's a question of attribution and historical accuracy.