The talk entitled “The 2025 Turing Award: Secret Key Sharing Using Quantum Mechanics” will take place on June 3rd at 14:30, in room B004 . The session will be moderated by Prof. Ana Paiva (DEI).
About the Talk:
The 2025 Turing Award was awarded this year to Charles H. Bennett and Gilles Brassard for their work in quantum cryptography. In their 1984 paper, they introduced the famous BB84 protocol, showing how two parties can securely share a cryptographic key. The security of this protocol is guaranteed by the laws of quantum physics themselves.
In this talk, the speaker will explain this protocol and its significance. No advanced knowledge of quantum mechanics is required.
About the Speaker:
Sagar Silva Pratapsi is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Informatics Engineering (DEI) at FEUP. His research focuses on quantum computing and quantum information, particularly on the fundamental principles of quantum mechanics, quantum system control, and related algorithms.
He completed his PhD at Instituto Superior Técnico in 2024 and served as a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Coimbra until 2026, where he taught courses in quantum computing and quantum information. He was also a visiting research student at the University of California, Berkeley in 2024, funded by the Luso-American Development Foundation, and a visiting student at the University of Maryland, Baltimore in 2023, supported by a doctoral fellowship from the “la Caixa” Foundation.
Before his PhD, he worked as a Research Analyst at the European Central Bank. He has received several distinctions, including a scholarship from the Gulbenkian Foundation’s New Talents in Mathematics Programme, and is a medalist in the International Physics Olympiad.