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Martin Hellman, a Turing Award winner, is credited with helping invent public-key…

2026-07-06 · 13:15 UTC ·@ryanlpeterman ·1 min read

Brief

Martin Hellman appears in a ~1:00:45 podcast episode (published 2026-07-06) recounting his role in inventing public‑key cryptography, clashes with the NSA, and why his work was controversial. The interview covers pre‑public‑key encryption, the Diffie‑Hellman story, Crypto Wars and RSA patent fights, plus his later work and thoughts on death.

Why it matters

Martin Hellman, a Turing Award winner, is credited with helping invent public-key cryptography; the episode asserts the NSA 'gave him some trouble' and promises to explain 'why his work broke the law.'

Key details

  • The podcast episode (published 2026-07-06) is ~1:00:45 long with chapters covering pre‑public‑key encryption, the Crypto Wars, the story behind Diffie‑Hellman key exchange, signatures vs key exchange, and RSA patent fights (timestamps provided).
  • Listen/watch links: YouTube (piped.video/AZLOETBCQM4), Spotify (open.spotify.com/episode/0QN…), Apple Podcasts, and a transcript at developing.dev/p/turing-awar…; episode sponsored by WorkOS.
Source evidence

Martin Hellman is a Turing Award winner famous for helping to invent public-key cryptography although the NSA gave him some trouble for his work at the time.

In this episode:

• Why his work broke the law
• Early encryption methods before public-key crypto
• The Crypto Wars and patent fights
• The story behind Diffie-Hellman key exchange
• His thoughts on death

Where to watch:

• YouTube - piped.video/AZLOETBCQM4
• Spotify - open.spotify.com/episode/0QN…
• Apple Podcasts - podcasts.apple.com/us/podcas…
• Transcript - developing.dev/p/turing-awar…

Thank you to the sponsor of this episode for supporting my work:

• WorkOS: makes your app Enterprise Ready with easy to use APIs to add SSO, SCIM, RBAC, and more in just a few lines of code, check them out at workos.com/

Chapters:

00:00 - Intro
00:34 - Why his work broke the law
08:39 - How people did encryption before
18:51 - The crypto wars
26:22 - The story behind Diffie Hellman key exchange
36:48 - Signatures vs key exchange
43:05 - RSA patent wars
48:08 - Why inventions happen at similar times
50:29 - What he worked on after cryptography
57:31 - His thoughts on death
59:40 - Advice for his younger self
01:00:45 - Outro

Video