Cryptographer

Malcolm J. Williamson

British mathematician and cryptographer

Life: 1950 – 2015
Born: November 2, 1950
Died: September 15, 2015
Nationality: United Kingdom

Malcolm John Williamson was 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 publicise 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.