5 ms·

The IBM scientist who rewrote the rules of information just won a Turing Award

143 points by rbanffy 8mo ago

AtlasBarfed 8mo ago
So the guy that came up with the idea and approach is the secondary on the award?
- smokel 8mo ago
  No, there is one award each year, and this year it is shared equally between two people: Charles Bennett and Gilles Brassard. This happens more often, and it has even been shared between three people (in 2002, 2007 and 2018).
- pigpag 8mo ago
  [dead]
ashwinnair99 8mo ago
Information theory gets credited to Shannon but the people who made it actually work in practice rarely get this kind of recognition. Long overdue.
- fsckboy 8mo ago
  this isn't about making quantum computing work in practice, this work was still theoretical math
  - NetMageSCW 8mo ago
    Perhaps read the article before commenting. They spend ten years developing an experimental demonstration of their concepts that worked.
    - fsckboy 8mo ago
      the demonstration was to confirm their math. quantum computing hardware is very difficult. they will not be remembered for their groundbeaking work in quantum physics lab equipment
varispeed 8mo ago
[dead]
ZebusJesus 8mo ago
To think quantum computers at IBM in the 80's, its sad to think companies like IBM and Bell Labs are not the same companies they used to be, I mean the people working at those companies during the 20th century changed the world. Im glad they got this award as it is apparent they had a huge impact on security and quantum computing in general.
- wil421 8mo ago
  Serving Ads is more lucrative. I wonder what kind of stories we will tell about how the social media companies exploited human nature to make a buck.
  - jungturk 8mo ago
    "Serving ads" is just the commercial application. All of the infrastructure used to harness (coordinate? co-opt?) the attention of the many and direct it toward some desired aims will surely end up being a tremendously transformative social capability. Hard to see the upside for humanity as we've understood it to date, but its definitely going to be more impactful than just making a buck.
    - chaboud 8mo ago
      Nerds solving interesting problems find a way. Folks (myself included) worked on Privacy Pass for verifiable ad attestation, but the power of blinded attestation is meaningful in ways beyond advertising authenticity validation. For folks at the implementation level, the problem is often the prize. I just need to get paid enough to not care about how much I get paid. And implicitly contributing to social good is a form of gamification that works well. I've encountered lots of folks who operate in the same way. Yes, we're paying a bit more of a "feed the beast" tax than the good old days, but we're still able to operate with a remarkable degree of latitude.
- rozal 8mo ago
  [dead]
deleted 8mo ago
[deleted]
faxanalysis 8mo ago
[dead]
12_throw_away 8mo ago
At least the first two paragraphs of this are directly plagiarized from the first source they cite [1]. [1] https://www.quantamagazine.org/quantum-cryptography-pioneers-win-turing-award-20260318/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/quantum-cryptography-pioneers...
deleted 8mo ago
[deleted]
mrbluecoat 8mo ago
Prior [44 comments]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47423694 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47423694
bux93 8mo ago
What a terrible headline and introduction. Designed to pique your interest by being mysterious? The ACM's announcement comes straight to the point: https://www.acm.org/media-center/2026/march/turing-award-2025 https://www.acm.org/media-center/2026/march/turing-award-202...

143 points by rbanffy 8mo ago

AtlasBarfed 8mo ago

So the guy that came up with the idea and approach is the secondary on the award?

smokel 8mo ago
No, there is one award each year, and this year it is shared equally between two people: Charles Bennett and Gilles Brassard. This happens more often, and it has even been shared between three people (in 2002, 2007 and 2018).
pigpag 8mo ago
[dead]

ashwinnair99 8mo ago

Information theory gets credited to Shannon but the people who made it actually work in practice rarely get this kind of recognition. Long overdue.

fsckboy 8mo ago
this isn't about making quantum computing work in practice, this work was still theoretical math
- NetMageSCW 8mo ago
  Perhaps read the article before commenting. They spend ten years developing an experimental demonstration of their concepts that worked.
  - fsckboy 8mo ago
    the demonstration was to confirm their math. quantum computing hardware is very difficult. they will not be remembered for their groundbeaking work in quantum physics lab equipment

varispeed 8mo ago

[dead]

ZebusJesus 8mo ago

To think quantum computers at IBM in the 80's, its sad to think companies like IBM and Bell Labs are not the same companies they used to be, I mean the people working at those companies during the 20th century changed the world. Im glad they got this award as it is apparent they had a huge impact on security and quantum computing in general.

wil421 8mo ago
Serving Ads is more lucrative. I wonder what kind of stories we will tell about how the social media companies exploited human nature to make a buck.
- jungturk 8mo ago
  "Serving ads" is just the commercial application. All of the infrastructure used to harness (coordinate? co-opt?) the attention of the many and direct it toward some desired aims will surely end up being a tremendously transformative social capability. Hard to see the upside for humanity as we've understood it to date, but its definitely going to be more impactful than just making a buck.
  - chaboud 8mo ago
    Nerds solving interesting problems find a way. Folks (myself included) worked on Privacy Pass for verifiable ad attestation, but the power of blinded attestation is meaningful in ways beyond advertising authenticity validation. For folks at the implementation level, the problem is often the prize. I just need to get paid enough to not care about how much I get paid. And implicitly contributing to social good is a form of gamification that works well. I've encountered lots of folks who operate in the same way. Yes, we're paying a bit more of a "feed the beast" tax than the good old days, but we're still able to operate with a remarkable degree of latitude.
rozal 8mo ago
[dead]

deleted 8mo ago

[deleted]

faxanalysis 8mo ago

[dead]

12_throw_away 8mo ago

At least the first two paragraphs of this are directly plagiarized from the first source they cite [1]. [1] https://www.quantamagazine.org/quantum-cryptography-pioneers-win-turing-award-20260318/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/quantum-cryptography-pioneers...

deleted 8mo ago

[deleted]

mrbluecoat 8mo ago

Prior [44 comments]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47423694 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47423694

bux93 8mo ago

What a terrible headline and introduction. Designed to pique your interest by being mysterious? The ACM's announcement comes straight to the point: https://www.acm.org/media-center/2026/march/turing-award-2025 https://www.acm.org/media-center/2026/march/turing-award-202...