Digital data is inherently easy to copy, clone, and counterfeit with perfect fidelity; Stephen Wiesner proved that storing information in polarized photons makes it physically impossible to counterfeit banknotes without destroying the quantum evidence. Rejected by academic journals for fifteen years, Wiesner’s 1968 paper on "Conjugate Coding" founded quantum cryptography, directly inspiring the famous BB84 quantum encryption protocol protecting modern government communications.
In the digital world, every string of 1s and 0s can be duplicated endlessly: whether it is a digital dollar, an encrypted password, or a computer file, hackers can copy the data without leaving a single trace.
Columbia University graduate student Stephen Wiesner realized that quantum mechanics has a built-in anti-counterfeiting shield. By storing secret serial numbers inside isolated polarized photons, Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle guarantees that anyone who tries to read or photocopy the quantum banknote will inevitably scramble the photon’s polarization, exposing the counterfeiter instantly.
Wiesner’s paper was rejected everywhere until published in a computer newsletter in 1983. By inspiring Charles Bennett and Gilles Brassard to create BB84 quantum key distribution, by proving that quantum states cannot be cloned, and by launching quantum cryptography, conjugate coding defends digital security.
Conjugate coding
article Conjugate coding Share on Author: Stephen Wiesner Columbia University, New York, N.Y. Columbia University, New York, N.Y.View Profile Authors Info & Claims ACM SIGACT NewsVolume 15Issue 1Winter-Spring 1983 pp 78–88https://doi.org/10.1145/1008908.1008920Online:01 January 1983Publication History 753citation4,598DownloadsMetricsTotal Citations753Total Downloads4,598Last 12 Months464Last 6 weeks47 Get Citation AlertsNew Citation Alert added!This alert has been successfully added and will be sent to:You will be notified whenever a record that you have chosen has been cited.To manage your alert preferences, click on the button below.Manage my AlertsNew Citation Alert!Please log in to your account Save to BinderSave to BinderCreate a New BinderNameCancelCreateExport CitationPublisher SiteGet Access
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