Martin E. Hellman is best known for his invention, with Diffie and Merkle, of public key cryptography, the technology that, among other uses, enables secure Internet transactions. It is used to transfer literally trillions of dollars every day. He has been a long-time contributor to the computer privacy debate, and was a key participant in the "first crypto war" of the late 1970s and early 80s that established the right of academic cryptographic researchers to publish their papers, free of government interference.

His work has been recognized by a number of honors and awards, including election to the National Academy of Engineering and the million-dollar ACM Turing Award, often called "the Nobel Prize of Computer Science." More detailed information is available on his other honors and awards.

Hellman has a deep interest in the ethics of technological development and his current focus is on Rethinking National Security. That approach has been endorsed by a number of prominent individuals including former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and Stanford's President Emeritus John Hennessy.

He and his wife Dorothie wrote a book, A New Map for Relationships: Creating True Love at Home & Peace on the Planet, that is now on sale at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other booksellers. Click to download a free PDF (1.2 MB) of the full book. Former Secretary of Defense William Perry recommended that it "should be read by married couples seeking peace at home, as well as by diplomats seeking peace in the world." It shows how the changes needed to build a strong, functional marriage or other relationship are the same ones needed to build a more peaceful, sustainable world.

During the 1980's, Prof. Hellman helped develop a meaningful dialog between the Soviet and American scientific communities on how human thinking had to evolve for survival in the nuclear age. This effort culminated in his co-editing a book with Prof. Anatoly Gromyko of Moscow. Breakthrough: Emerging New Thinking was published simultaneously in Russian and English in 1987 during the rapid change in Soviet-American relations.

During the 1980s and 1990s he worked to overcome ethnic tension within the university, work for which he received three awards from minority student organizations.

Born in New York, NY in October 1945, he received his B.E. from New York University in 1966, and his M.S. and Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1967 and 1969, all in Electrical Engineering.

Prof. Hellman was at IBM's Watson Research Center from 1968-69 and an Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering at MIT from 1969-71. Returning to Stanford in 1971, he served on the regular faculty until becoming Professor Emeritus in 1996. He has authored over seventy technical papers (click for publication list), twelve US patents and a number of foreign equivalents.

Hellman has been involved with a number of high-tech startups, serving variously as a founder, advisor, and investor. In his spare time, he enjoys people, soaring, speed skating, and hiking, although the latter three are infrequent in recent years.