Gustavus Simmons

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Gustavus J. Simmons (1930-) is a retired cryptographer and former manager of the Applied Mathematics Department at Sandia National Laboratories. He has worked primarily with authentication theory, developing cryptographic techniques for solving problems of mutual distrust. Simmons was born in West Virginia and was named after his grand-father, a Prohibition officer who was gunned down three years before Gustavus was born.^{[citation needed]} He began his post-secondary education at Deep Springs College, and he received his Ph.D in mathematics from the University of New Mexico, Albequerque.

Simmons has published over 100 papers, many of which are devoted to asymmetric encryption techniques. In the 1980's, he helped form the International Association for Cryptologic Research (IACR). His technical contributions include the development of subliminal channels for use in digital signatures.^[1] He is also the creator of the Ramsey/graph theory-based mathematical game Sim.^[2]

At Sandia, Simmons was involved in the cryptographic aspects of verifying adherance to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty for nuclear weapons.^[3] In a review of Contemporary Cryptography (see publications), Don Coppersmith summarized the problem:

"Is the host substituting a false signal to mask the fact that it is continuing tests? Is the monitor really using the device to transmit other information than that allowed by the treaty? Who supplies the hardware? Can that person cheat?"^[4]

[edit] Awards and Recognition

In 1986, Simmons was the recipient of the U.S. Department of Energy E. O. Lawrence Award.^[5] In 1991, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from Lund University for his work in authentication theory.^[6] In 2005, he was elected a IACR Fellow, "for pioneering research in information integrity, information theory, and secure protocols and for substantial contributions to the formation of the IACR."^[7]

[edit] Publications

• Simmons, Gustavus J. (Editor), Contemporary Cryptology: The Science of Information Integrity. (Wiley 1999)

[edit] References

1. ^ Simmons, Gustavus J. “The Prisoner’s Problem and the Subliminal Channel," Advances in Cryptology: Proceedings of CRYPTO ’83, Plenum Press, 1984, pp. 51-67.
2. ^ Simmons, Gustavus J. "The game of SIM," J. Recreational Mathematics, 2(2), 1969, pp. 66.
3. ^ Simmons, Gustavus J. "How to Insure That Data Acquired to Verify Treaty Compliance are Trustworthy," Contemporary Cryptology (IEEE), 1992, pp. 617-630.
4. ^ Review of Contemporary Cryptography
5. ^ E. O. Lawrence award citation
6. ^ List of Honorary Doctorates in Engineering at Lund University (in Swedish)
7. ^ IACR Fellow citation