birth_place nationality fields birth_date known_for article_title name
stockport , united kingdom british cryptography 1950 independently exchange developed a version of diffie -- hellman key malcolm j. williamson
 malcolm j. williamson
malcolm j. williamson

malcolm john williamson is a british mathematician and cryptographer .
in 1974 he developed what is now known as diffie -- hellman key exchange .
he was then working at gchq and was therefore unable to publicize his research as his work was classified .
martin hellman , who independently developed the key exchange at the same time , received credit for the discovery until williamson 's research was declassified by the british government in 1997 .
williamson studied at manchester grammar school , winning first prize in the 1968 british mathematical olympiad .
he also won a silver prize at the 1967 international mathematical olympiad in cetinje , yugoslavia and a gold prize at the 1968 international mathematical olympiad in moscow .
he read mathematics at trinity college , cambridge , graduating in 1971 .
after a year at liverpool university , he joined gchq , and worked there until 1982 .
from 1985 to 1989 williamson worked at nicolet instruments in madison , wisconsin where he was the primary author on two digital hearing aid patents .
