Guide to the Martin Edward Hellman Papers SC1176
Daniel Hartwig
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
August 2018
Green Library
557 Escondido Mall
Stanford 94305-6064
specialcollections@stanford.edu
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Title: Martin Edward Hellman papers
creator:
Hellman, Martin E.
Identifier/Call Number: SC1176
Physical Description:
3 Linear Feet
(and 265 megabytes)
Date (inclusive): 1971-2018
Date (bulk): bulk
Access to Collection
The materials are open for research use.
Audio-visual materials are not available in original format, and must be reformatted to a
digital use copy.
Publication Rights
All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from, or otherwise use collection materials must
be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford
University Libraries, Stanford, California 94305-6064. Consent is given on behalf of Special
Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply
permission from the copyright owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright
owner, heir(s) or assigns. See:
http://library.stanford.edu/spc/using-collections/permission-publish.
Restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original materials. Use of
digital files is restricted to research and educational purposes.
Preferred Citation
[identification of item], Martin Edward Hellman Papers (SC1176). Dept. of Special
Collections and University Archives, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.
Scope and Contents
The materials consist of research files, subject files, publications and correspondence
documenting public key cryptography and the Beyond War project.
Biographical / Historical
Martin Edward Hellman was 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 1968-1969 and an Assistant Professor
of Electrical Engineering at MIT from 1969-1971. Returning to Stanford in 1971, he served on
the regular faculty until becoming Professor Emeritus in 1996. He has authored over seventy
technical papers, ten US patents and a number of foreign equivalents.
Hellman is best known for his invention, with Diffie and Merkle, of public key
cryptography. In addition to many other uses, this technology forms the basis for secure
transactions on the Internet. He has also been a long-time contributor to the computer
security debate, starting with the issue of DES's key size in 1975, serving (1994-96) on the
National Research Council's Committee to Study National Cryptographic Policy, and currently
serving on Verified Voting's Board of Advisors.
Prof. Hellman also has a deep interest in the ethics of technological development. With
Prof. Anatoly Gromyko of Moscow, he co-edited Breakthrough: Emerging New Thinking, a book
published simultaneously in Russian and English in 1987 during the rapid change in
Soviet-American relations. His current project in this area, Defusing the Nuclear Threat,
has been endorsed by a number of prominent individuals including a former Director of the
National Security Agency, Stanford's President Emeritus, and two Nobel Laureates.
Existence and Location of Copies
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Information theory.
Data Encryption Standard.
Data encryption (Computer science) -- United States.
Cryptography -- United States -- History -- 20th century.
Diffie, Whitfield.
Hellman, Martin E.
Merkle, Ralph Charles.
Public key cryptography
Existence and Location of Originals
box 1, folder 1
DES (Data Encryption Standard) - Misc. Correspondence
1975-1977
box 1, folder 3
Newsweek magazine &
Datamation magazine
1976-2001
box 1, folder 4
DES - PR
circa 1970s - 1990s
box 1, folder 6
NBS - Originals
1974-1976
box 1, folder 10
DES - Bell Telephone Labs
1976
box 1, folder 12
Misc. Articles Re: Marty
circa 1970s - 1980s
box 1, folder 17
Racal-Milgo Patent Q. & MIT
circa 1980s
box 1, folder 19
Resume, Biogr., & Pics
circa 1990s
box 1, folder 23
An Evaluation of the Data Encryption Standard
box 1, folder 24
Results of an Intial Attempt to Cryptanalyze the NBS Data Encryption
Standard
1976 Nov
box 1, folder 25
Crypto Bibliography
1980 Nov
box 1, folder 26
Factoring Schroeppel
1976-1979
box 1, folder 27
"On the Necessity of Cryptanalytic Exhaustive Search" - Hellman, Karnin,
& Reyneri
1981-1982
box 1, folder 29
Merkle, Ralph C.
1974-1977
box 1, folder 30
Secure Communications Over Insecure Channels - R. Merkle
box 1, folder 32
Public Key Encipher
1975-1977
box 1, folder 33
Merkle, Ralph C. - Logs Mod P
1976 Jul
box 1, folder 34
EE478 - Martin Hellman - Class Notes
1995
box 1, folder 35
Reprints - Martin Hellman and Thomas Cover
1970-1976
box 1, folder 36
IEEE Communications Magazine
2002 May
box 1, folder 37
Information Theorectic Approach to Cryptography
1974 Apr
box 2, folder 44
Inman, Bob letter to Hellman
1980 Nov 22
Scope and Contents
Note of context from Professor Hellman (2014 May 29):
I visited Inman at NSA a few weeks before this broke in the summer of 1980.
The affair broke for me when I got a call from Gina Kolata telling me that Len
Adleman had gotten a call or letter from NSF telling him that they could not fund a
research proposal because NSA maintained they had a monopoly on government funding of
crypto research. I told Gina that I had just had a meeting with Inman and either I'd
been lied to or there was a serious misunderstanding, with the latter being my guess.
I called Inman and told him what Gina had told me. He responded that someone had
gotten the message terribly garbled, that Adleman was supposed to have been told that
NSA would like to fund his work, not that NSF could not. I offered to suggest that
Gina call him, and he heartily agreed. Gina did call Inman, but the story she ran in
Science magazine stuck to the original version. Later conversations with the grant
maker at NSF (Weingarten I believe) led me to believe that Inman's intent was not
conveyed by lower level individuals at NSA, who rather took the old, high handed
approach. So, both Gina's story and Inman's unhappiness at being misunderstood
(expressed in his letter) may be well grounded, even though at first they appear
mutually exclusive.
My arguments about a compulsory system not working, and NSA needing the good will of
the academic researchers must have won out, because he assured me that a voluntary
system would be used instead. And that, in general, NSA would take a less
confrontational approach.
Beyond War project
1984-1988
box 1, folder 38
Soviet Visit
1988 Jan-Apr
box 1, folder 39
Beyond War International Scientific Initiative / Santa Barbara and San Luis
Obispo Talk
circa 1980s
box 1, folder 40
Russian/Eng XLTN Q's
1987 Nov
box 1, item 1
Breakthrough (in Russian)
copyright 1988
box 1, item 2
Breakthrough (in English)
1988
box 2, folder 1
Hungary & USSR Trip
1984 Aug
box 2, folder 2
USSR/ Hungary Trip
1984 Nov
box 2, folder 3
Moscow Trip - IFSNTB Meeting
1986 Jul 11-13
box 2, folder 4
Nuclear Weapons - Arms Race
circa 1980s
box 2, folder 5
Moscow Trip
1986 May 27-29
box 2, folder 7
USA/USSR Task Force to Build a World Beyond War
1985 Sep 9
box 2, folder 8
Earth Scientists for the Preservation of the Planet & The Problem -
Victor F. Weisskopf
1986 May
box 2, folder 9
USSR Trip - Notes, etc.
1985 Oct
box 2, folder 10
Correspondence b/w Richard Rathbun & Central Jersey Region Beyond War
1988
box 2, folder 11
USA/ USSR Task Force (photos enclosed)
1984
box 2, folder 12
USSR Trip - Notes/RPT
1986 Jun
box 2, folder 15
Update - Auth & Ed.
1987 Jan 27
box 2, folder 18
Barton J. Bernstein
circa 1960s - 1980s
box 2, folder 22
Admiral Eugene J. Carroll Jr.
1986-1987
box 2, folder 23
Stephen F. Cohen
1986-1987
box 2, folder 24
Randall Forsberg
1985-1987
box 2, folder 25
Jerome D. Frank
1986-1987
box 2, folder 26
Papers w/ Notes on Nuclear Weapons - multiple authors
1987
box 2, folder 27
Martin E. Hellman
1986-1987
box 2, folder 29
Sergei P Kapitza/ Martin E. Hellman
1988
box 2, folder 33
Boris Raushenbakh
1987 Jan 22
box 2, folder 34
John M. Richardson Jr.
1987
box 2, folder 35
Everett M. Rogers
1983-1987
box 2, folder 42
Fairchild Auditorium Presentations
box 2, folder 43
Soivet Papers - Old & Repr./ Sample (problems) & Burlatsky
Dial
Websites
2013-2018
Websites
Publications
1971-2012
Publications
Physical Description: 42 computer
file(s) (pdf)
Scope and Contents
PDFs of most of Hellman's published papers. The numbered entries correspond to the
publications page on his website.
Breakthrough History
1986 Feb
Breakthrough History
Physical Description: 5 computer
file(s)
Scope and Contents
Images of a telegram and a telex, with crops of those showing the most important
parts.
Notes from Martin Hellman:
860205 telegram.tiff 860205 telegram.tiff is a February 5, 1986 telegram from Andrei
Kokoshin and another Soviet (Oznobistchev) whom I don't remember. Andrei was one of
Evgeny Velikhov's Deputies -- and Velikhov was a VP of the Soviet Academy of Sciences,
and later Gorbachev's Science Advisor. When we tried to meet with Velikhov in the Fall
of 1984, he had us meet with Kokoshin instead. Later Kokoshin was a high level
official in the Russian Ministry of Defense. When we worked with him, he was at the
Academy of Science's Institute on USA and Canada, often known as IUSA. The telegram
refers to "OUR COMMON WORKING MEETING IN SPRING ... NOT EARLIER THAN APRIL" In fact,
that meeting did not take place until April 1987 (see picture caption on page 268 of
the book). That was probably just as well since Gorbachev was not able to lift
censorship until the Fall of 1986, so the earlier meeting date would have been
severely hampered. In contrast, by April 1987 we were able to have totally unfettered
discussions with the Soviets, with no limitations. There was a real discontinuity in
late 1986.
That telegram also refers to their "HAVE NOT GOT TELEX." Earlier, we had to use
telegrams at about $0.25 per word to communicate in both directions, but by February
1986, Beyond War had obtained a CP/M program which allowed us to use a personal
computer as a telex machine at roughly 1/10 the cost per word of telegrams. While the
Soviets could receive our telexes, they could not send and had to use telegrams
still.
860225 telex.tiff is our reply to that telegram. A few words in the second paragraph
are hard to read so here they are, "We have begun work based on the Draft Memorandum
of Understanding which we formulated ...".
Cryptography History
Cryptography History
Physical Description: 29 computer
file(s)
Scope and Contents
Notes from Martin Hellman:
Autobiography FrameMaker folder has a ReadMe.txt which explains what's there. I
mostly included it for Chapter 1, which details my meeting with John Schwartz
concerning the Meyer letter.
Crypto History/1976 1110 cryptanalysis of DES.pdf has a scan of what I've called "the
Lexar Report," except this is the Stanford version which we had to wait a few months
to release for the reasons mentioned in my verbal comments when you were here.
Crypto History/1977 0707 Meyer letter folder has files related to Meyer's letter sent
to the IEEE, including that letter.
Crypto History/1978 0703 TIME article has the July 3, 1978
TIME article in both scanned and text versions The text version is in
Pages, a Mac word processor.
Crypto History/IBM folder has correspondence between me and IBM when I was trying to
get IBM to help increase the key size of DES.
Crypto History/Inman folder has Bob Inman's 1980 handwritten letter to me.
Crypto History/NBS folder has several files related to my interactions with NBS over
DES' key size.
Crypto History/Science Magazine articles folder has several articles from
Science magazine related to my work. I own no rights to
those articles since I did not write them.
Inman letter--Note of context from Professor Hellman (2014 May 29):
I visited Inman at NSA a few weeks before this broke in the summer of 1980.
The affair broke for me when I got a call from Gina Kolata telling me that Len
Adleman had gotten a call or letter from NSF telling him that they could not fund a
research proposal because NSA maintained they had a monopoly on government funding of
crypto research. I told Gina that I had just had a meeting with Inman and either I'd
been lied to or there was a serious misunderstanding, with the latter being my guess.
I called Inman and told him what Gina had told me. He responded that someone had
gotten the message terribly garbled, that Adleman was supposed to have been told that
NSA would like to fund his work, not that NSF could not. I offered to suggest that
Gina call him, and he heartily agreed. Gina did call Inman, but the story she ran in
Science magazine stuck to the original version. Later conversations with the grant
maker at NSF (Weingarten I believe) led me to believe that Inman's intent was not
conveyed by lower level individuals at NSA, who rather took the old, high handed
approach. So, both Gina's story and Inman's unhappiness at being misunderstood
(expressed in his letter) may be well grounded, even though at first they appear
mutually exclusive.
My arguments about a compulsory system not working, and NSA needing the good will of
the academic researchers must have won out, because he assured me that a voluntary
system would be used instead. And that, in general, NSA would take a less
confrontational approach.
Merkle, Ralph C.
1974-
Merkle, Ralph C.: 1974-
Physical Description: 17 computer
file(s)
Autobiography, Chapter 1
Autobiography, Chapter 1
Physical Description: 1 computer
file(s) (pdf)
Scope and Contents
Chapter from uncompleted memoir describing Hellman's interaction with John Schwartz
and what happened at the 1977 symposium. This relates to the Meyer file. It was
written about 20 years ago in a now obsolete word processor, and was translated into
Word.