CAMBRIDGE, July 8 — The year that matters in computing is 1994. That was the year Peter Shor, then a researcher at Bell Labs, developed an algorithm that could factor large integers exponentially faster than any known classical method. The threat it poses to the RSA encryption standard, which secures digital transactions, is significant.
By the numbers, Shor’s algorithm is a disruptive idea in modern cryptography. RSA encryption relies on the practical impossibility of factoring the product of two large prime numbers using classical computers.
Shor’s quantum algorithm breaks that assumption. For a sufficiently large quantum computer, the factoring problem that would take a classical machine a long time could be solved quickly. The bottom line: every encrypted message, every digital signature, every secure online transaction that uses RSA is theoretically vulnerable.
Shor, now a professor of applied mathematics at MIT, earned his Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1985. He was born in 1959.
His breakthrough came while he was at Bell Labs, and it did not stop with factoring. In 1995, Shor developed the Shor code, a method of quantum error correction that allows quantum computers to correct errors that arise from decoherence and other noise. Without error correction, building a large-scale quantum computer is impossible.
With it, the path becomes plausible. The awards followed. Shor received a MacArthur Fellowship in 1999, the same year he won the Gödel Prize.
In 2017, he was awarded the Dirac Medal. These are not minor honors.
The MacArthur Fellowship is given to individuals who show exceptional creativity in their work. The Gödel Prize recognizes outstanding papers in theoretical computer science. The Dirac Medal is among the most prestigious awards in theoretical physics.
Investors will note that Shor’s work is widely considered a major catalyst that turned quantum computing from a theoretical curiosity into a field with real-world urgency. Before 1994, quantum computing was a niche area.
After Shor’s algorithm, it became a race. Governments, tech giants, and venture capital firms began pouring money into quantum hardware and software research. The timeline for a practical quantum computer remains uncertain, but the direction is clear.
The Shor code, published the year after his factoring algorithm, addressed a fundamental problem. Quantum bits, or qubits, are fragile. They interact with their environment and lose their quantum state.
Classical computers have error correction built into their hardware and software layers. Quantum computers need a different approach.
Shor’s code was the first to show that quantum error correction was possible. It remains a foundational building block of nearly every quantum error correction scheme in use today. The threat to RSA encryption is not immediate.
Current quantum computers are far too small and too error-prone to run Shor’s algorithm on any cryptographically relevant key size. But the trajectory is clear.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology has been running a multi-year process to select post-quantum cryptography standards — algorithms that can run on classical computers but are resistant to quantum attacks. The figure that matters for the timeline is not just qubit count but error rate. Shor’s own work on error correction provides the theoretical framework for scaling up.
If quantum computers can achieve sufficiently low error rates, and if the number of logical qubits can be scaled up, then RSA encryption falls. The consensus among researchers is that this is a matter of when, not if. Shor’s contributions are not limited to cryptography.
His algorithm also applies to the discrete logarithm problem, which underlies other encryption systems such as Diffie-Hellman key exchange and elliptic curve cryptography. The scope of the threat is broader than just RSA.
Any public-key cryptosystem that relies on the hardness of factoring or discrete logarithms is vulnerable. The bottom line for the technology sector is that the clock is ticking. Companies like Google, IBM, and Microsoft are investing heavily in quantum hardware.
Startups are racing to build error-corrected qubits. Governments are funding research and setting standards.
The transition to post-quantum cryptography will take years, and the longer it takes, the greater the risk that encrypted data recorded today could be decrypted retroactively once a quantum computer exists. Shor remains at MIT, teaching and researching. His algorithm and his error correction code are taught in every quantum computing course.
His name is synonymous with the field’s most important breakthrough. The awards and honors reflect the scale of the contribution, but the real measure is the industry and government response that his work set in motion. What to watch next: the progress of quantum error correction and the adoption of post-quantum cryptography standards.
The NIST process is expected to finalize its selected algorithms in the coming years. The first quantum computers capable of running Shor’s algorithm on meaningful key sizes are likely still many years away, but the groundwork is being laid.
Shor’s 1994 paper remains the North Star for the field — the proof that quantum advantage is not just possible, but transformative.
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