Photo: PRZ_closeup.jpg: User Matt Crypto on en.wikipedia derivative work: Beao / CC BY-SA 3.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Zimmermann is one of those rare technologists I genuinely admire as a moral figure, not just an engineer. PGP didn't make him a household name, yet it quietly handed ordinary people a power that used to belong only to governments: the ability to keep a conversation truly private. That he weathered the legal storms of the 1990s to defend that idea tells you everything about his conviction. I find his career far more interesting than most celebrities' precisely because the stakes were real. The Internet Hall of Fame nod feels almost understated. He's a builder whose work outlasts any spotlight.
Overview
Philip R. Zimmermann (born 1954) is an American computer scientist and cryptographer. He is the creator of Pretty Good Privacy (PGP), the most widely used email encryption software in the world. He is also known for his work in VoIP encryption protocols, notably ZRTP and Zfone. Zimmermann is co-founder and Chief Scientist of the global encrypted communications firm Silent Circle.
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Phil Zimmermann
- Name (Japanese)
- フィル・ジマーマン
- Reading
- ふぃる・じまーまん
- Born
- February 12, 1954 (age 72)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Aquarius / Horse
- Origin
- Camden, New Jersey, United States
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- cryptographer / mathematician / programmer / human rights defender / computer scientist
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Private
- University
- Florida Atlantic University
Awards & achievements
- 1995 EFF Award
- 2012 Internet Hall of Fame
- 1996 Norbert Wiener Award for Social and Professional Responsibility
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Mathematician — see all → · More people from United States →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.