International Association for Cryptologic Research (IACR)
Publication date
31/05/2011
Field of study
Over a period of sixteen years elliptic curve cryptography went from being an approach that many people mistrusted or misunderstood to being a public key technology that enjoys almost unquestioned acceptance. We describe the sometimes surprising twists and turns in this paradigm shift, and compare this story with the commonly accepted Ideal Model
of how research and development function in cryptography. We also
discuss to what extent the ideas in the literature on social
construction of technology can contribute to a better understanding
of this history