Claude Shannon revolutionized secure communication in 1949 with his work on information theory, providing the mathematical foundation for cryptography. He introduced concepts like entropy, measuring information unpredictability, and proved that perfect secrecy is achievable with one-time pads. Shannon’s work was driven by the need for secure communication during World War II and beyond, addressing vulnerabilities in data transmission.

Decades later, Ralph Merkle built upon Shannon’s principles by solving practical issues in data integrity and verification. In 1979, Merkle introduced Merkle Trees, a cryptographic structure that ensures efficient, tamper-proof verification of data blocks. By organizing data into a tree-like structure, it became possible to validate large datasets without needing the entire data, a breakthrough essential for blockchain and modern cryptographic protocols. #CryptoHistory #MerkleTree