We would like to congratulate the 2025 ACM A.M. Turing Award recipients, Charles H. Bennett and Gilles Brassard, who are being honored “for their essential role in establishing the foundations of quantum information science and transforming secure communication and computing.”

Bennett and Brassard are widely recognized as founders of quantum information science, a field at the intersection of physics and computer science that treats quantum mechanical phenomena not merely as properties of matter, but as resources for processing and transmitting information.

In 1984, inspired by the insights of their late collaborator Stephen Wiesner, Bennett and Brassard introduced the first practical protocol for quantum cryptography, now known as BB84. The paper, “Quantum Cryptography: Public Key Distribution and Coin Tossing,” demonstrated that two parties could establish a secret encryption key with security guaranteed by the laws of physics, even against adversaries with unlimited computational power and technological sophistication such as a quantum computer.

Over four decades, Bennett and Brassard’s collaboration bridged two previously distinct disciplines: physics and computer science. By incorporating quantum principles into computational models, their work has influenced cryptography, algorithm design, computational complexity, learning theory, interactive proofs, and mathematical physics. Their research helped catalyze a generation of physicists and computer scientists to work across disciplinary boundaries.

“Bennett and Brassard fundamentally changed our understanding of information itself,” said Yannis Ioannidis, President of ACM. “Their insights expanded the boundaries of computing and set in motion decades of discovery across disciplines. The global momentum behind quantum technologies today underscores the enduring importance of their contributions.”

“Charles Bennett and Gilles Brassard’s visionary insights laid the groundwork for one of the most exciting frontiers in science and technology,” said Jeff Dean, Chief Scientist, Google DeepMind and Google Research. “Their work continues to influence both fundamental research and real-world innovation. Google is proud to support the ACM A.M. Turing Award and honor the pioneers shaping the future of computing.”

The ACM A.M. Turing Award, often referred to as the “Nobel Prize in Computing,” carries a $1 million prize with financial support provided by Google, Inc. The award is named for Alan M. Turing, the British mathematician who articulated the mathematical foundations of computing.

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