From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Charles Rackoff is a noted modern cryptologist. He was born and raised in New York City. Charles attended MIT as both an undergraduate and graduate student, and earned a degree in Computer Science in 1974. He spent a year as a post-doc at INRIA in France. Currently he works at the University of Toronto. His research interests are in computational complexity theory. For some time now he has been specializing in cryptography and security protocols. Rackoff was awarded the 1993 Gödel Prize for his work on interactive proof systems.

In December 2000, he e-mailed controversial comments about the Montreal Massacre which occurred on Dec. 6, 1989. On that day an enraged gunman roamed the corridors of Montreal's École Polytechnique and killed 14 women: Geneviève Bergeron, aged 21; Hélène Colgan, 23; Nathalie Croteau, 23; Barbara Daigneault, 22; Anne-Marie Edward, 21; Maud Haviernick, 29; Barbara Maria Klucznik, 31; Maryse Leclair, 23; Annie St.-Arneault, 23; Michèle Richard, 21; Maryse Laganière, 25; Anne-Marie Lemay, 22; Sonia Pelletier, 28; and Annie Turcotte, aged 21. The gunman separated the men from the women and, before opening fire on the classroom of female engineering students, screamed, "I hate feminists." Almost immediately, the Montreal Massacre became a galvanizing moment in which mourning turned into outrage about all violence against women. On the occasion of a memorial some 11 years later, Rackoff sent his emails to staff and faculty. He wrote, "The point is to use the death of these people as an excuse to promote the feminist/extreme left-wing agenda ... (Even the KKK, as far as I know, has never suggested that all black people should wear white ribbons to apologize for the collective sins of their race.)"