University of Montreal professor Gilles Brassard received the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics on Thursday along with three other researchers, a prize that is considered the most important in the scientific field.
He is thus co-winner of the prize of 3 million US dollars with the American researchers Charles Bennett and Peter Schor as well as the Briton David Deutsch for their work on quantum information.
He participated in launching quantum cryptography, which allows secret messages to be sent between users who do not initially share secret information.
“Unlike commonly used e-commerce methods, it cannot be broken, even by a spy with unlimited computing power,” the Breakthrough award announcement reads.