NSERC congratulates Dr. Gilles Brassard, computer science professor at the Université de Montréal, on winning the 2025 A.M. Turing Award, presented by the Association for Computing Machinery. Dr. Brassard shares this prize with Dr. Charles H. Bennett, research scientist and IBM Fellow, for their essential role in establishing the foundations of quantum information science and transforming secure communication and computing.

Described as the “Nobel Prize in Computing”, the A.M. Turing Award honors the computer scientists and engineers who created the systems and underlying theoretical foundations that have propelled the information technology industry.

Best known for co-inventing quantum cryptography and quantum teleportation, Dr. Brassard’s work laid the foundation for a field that continues to reshape our understanding of the possibilities of computing, communication, and security. His ideas have expanded the thinking of physicists, mathematicians, engineers, and computer scientists worldwide.

NSERC is proud to have provided continuous support for Dr. Brassard’s research through our flagship Discovery Grants program. Dr. Brassard was awarded an E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowship in 1992, and he held the Canada Research Chair in Quantum Information Processing from 2001 to 2021. In 2009, NSERC awarded Dr. Brassard its highest honour, the Gerhard Herzberg Gold Medal for Science and Engineering, recognizing the profound and lasting impact of his research.

Still based at the Université de Montréal, where he has conducted groundbreaking work for over four decades, Dr. Brassard continues to push the frontiers of knowledge. His legacy is not only written in the foundation of quantum information science but also in the thriving community of scientists he has trained and inspired across Canada and around the world.