Dr. Leonard Adleman

Biography

‘Len’ Adleman grew up in San Francisco as the son of a technical equipment salesman and a bank teller. Inspired by the American children’s science program ‘Mr. Wizard’, he aspired to become a chemist or doctor. He obtained a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley in 1968. After graduating, he took a job as a computer programmer at Bank of America. Eventually, Adleman returned to Berkeley for his Ph.D. in Computer Science, which he completed in 1976. From 1976 to 1980, he worked in the Mathematics Department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston, serving as an instructor and advancing to associate professor. In 1980, Adleman joined the University of Southern California as a tenured associate professor, becoming a full professor in 1983. He was named the Henry Salvatori Chair in Computer Science at USC. Adleman is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the National Academy of Sciences. He is known for his work in algorithms, computational complexity, cryptography, and DNA computing. Notably, he contributed to the RSA algorithm, which allows secure data encryption, and he has focused on the interface between biology and computation.

Research Interests

Experience

Awards