In 2004, when a female teacher was bored when she was pregnant, she casually deciphered the "most secure" cryptographic algorithm in the world. Afterwards, they said to the female teacher: "We will give you an annual salary of 10 million, you can come here." ”
This female teacher is Wang Xiaoyun, the first female doctor in China to study cryptography.
In 1966, Wang Xiaoyun was born in an ordinary family in Shandong. Her father was a math teacher, and under the enlightenment of her father, Wang Xiaoyun was particularly good at science. At first, she was particularly fascinated by physics, but she failed an exam and eventually entered the mathematics major of Shandong University.
Who would have thought that it was because of this "planting" that she formed an indissoluble bond with cryptography.
Although she failed to choose her favorite major, Wang Xiaoyun was never sloppy about learning, she said: "Learn a line, love a line." She has always worked hard, and gradually became fascinated by the ever-changing formulas in mathematics.
Just when she thought that she would have to fight in the field of mathematics for the rest of her life, her tutor asked her to give up mathematics.
She couldn't accept this, after all, she had worked hard for many years, but soon after, she took the initiative to give up.
At that time, Xidian University opened a short-term course in cryptography, and she went to study it at the request of her tutor.
Unexpectedly, after a few lessons of study, she actually found fun in cryptography, which seems to be a simple binary combination, but it is as varied as a Rubik's cube.
The short study made her unsatisfied, so she went to the library and borrowed a large number of cryptography-related books.
After returning to Shandong University, she could no longer let go of cryptography.
After graduating with a Ph.D. at the age of 27, in order to continue her research in cryptography, she resolutely gave up the high-paying job recommended by her supervisor and chose to stay on as a teacher.
Choosing to study cryptography is the same as choosing loneliness and loneliness. Most of the time, Wang Xiaoyun is alone and plays with cryptography, and when she encounters difficulties, no one can help her, but she enjoys it.
For 10 years, Wang Xiaoyun has been studying cryptography in obscurity, and her classmates and friends have persuaded her to start a business, but she said: "I don't like the feeling of giving up, cryptography is my lifelong career." ”
In 2001, 35-year-old Wang Xiaoyun became pregnant, because she was an older mother, the doctor warned her to stay away from electronic products, but this did not make her put down the study of cryptography, when she accidentally learned that the MD5 algorithm has not been deciphered so far, she became interested.
At home, with a desk, a pen, and a pile of calculation paper, Wang Xiaoyun began to tackle the MD5 algorithm.
During this period, many seniors persuaded her to give up, because at that time, there were many top scientific research institutions and well-known cryptography experts in Europe who participated in the challenge of the MD5 algorithm, but no one succeeded.
Since the advent of MD5 and SHA-1, they have been recognized internationally as the safest, most advanced, and most widely used two hash function algorithms.
But Wang Xiaoyun disagreed, she said: "It was really difficult at first, but then I thought from a mathematical perspective and slowly discovered the pattern. ”
In August 2004, at the International Cryptography Conference held in the United States, Wang Xiaoyun sat in the corner, and no one noticed her until she took the stage to announce that MD5 had been deciphered.
The audience was in an uproar. The Chinese female teacher on the stage, who looked ordinary and had never heard her name, actually deciphered the most secure MD5 algorithm, and the cryptography experts in the audience expressed their doubts, and even at that time, some scientific research institutions called ** to express doubts and asked for verification on the spot.
Wang Xiaoyun was full of confidence in her conclusions, and she took the initiative to verify it at the same time with the famous cryptography professor Professor Biham, and they turned on the computer to carry out derivation and verification under the gaze of everyone, and finally the results proved that Wang Xiaoyun was right.
MD5 was deciphered by an unknown Chinese female teacher, and experts from all over the world shook hands with Wang Xiaoyun excitedly.
MD5 was deciphered, which is undoubtedly a huge impact for the international cryptography community, and everyone is speculating whether Wang Xiaoyun's next target will be SHA-1. ”
Half a year later, Wang Xiaoyun and his team announced again: SHA-1 has been deciphered!
As soon as this news came out, the United States exclaimed: How is this possible! Wang Xiaoyun's attainments in the field of cryptography made the United States feel like a great enemy, and he said to her: "We will give you an annual salary of 10 million, you can come here." ”
Wang Xiaoyun flatly refused.
After returning to China, she continued to teach at the university, leading her students to continue the research of cryptography, and she resolutely withdrew from her current research field in order to design China's own cryptography.
In 2010, the SM3 algorithm was released, which was designed by Wang Xiaoyun and other domestic experts.
In 2019, Wang Xiaoyun won the "Future Science Prize" with a prize of 7.11 million yuan, making her the first female winner.
Now, Wang Xiaoyun has led the team to start research on blockchain and big data privacy computing, she said: "Doing scientific research should not only look at personal interests, cryptography is to serve the country. ”
The decipherment of MD5 and SHA-1 made Professor Wang Xiaoyun famous, and in the face of high-salary offers from various countries, she rejected them one by one, and in her heart, she was always willing to shine and dedicate herself to her country.
Science has no borders, but scientists have a homeland!
Let us pay tribute to Professor Wang Xiaoyun and the scientists who have contributed to the motherland!