As an Intel engineer, he solved the "alpha particle problem" which affected the reliability of integrated circuits at microchip scales.
He's discussed here as a founding member of the Cypherpunk Mailing list. As the author of the Crypto Anarchist Manifesto and the Cyphernomicon (the mailing list FAQ), he is one of the key figures who really distilled the core philosophy of the list.
From wikipedia:
Timothy C. May, better known as Tim May, is an American technical and political writer, and was an electronic engineer and senior scientist at Intel in the company's early history. He retired in 2003.
May was a founding member of, and has been one of the most voluminous contributors to, Cypherpunks electronic mailing list. He wrote extensively on cryptography and privacy from the 1990s through 2003.
May wrote a substantial cypherpunk-themed FAQ, "The Cyphernomicon" (incorporating his earlier piece "The Crypto Anarchist Manifesto"), and his essay "True Nyms and Crypto Anarchy" was included in a reprint of Vernor Vinge's novel True Names. In 2001 his work was published in the book Crypto Anarchy, Cyberstates, and Pirate Utopias.
A specter is haunting the modern world, the specter of crypto anarchy.
Arise, you have nothing to lose but your barbed wire fences!
Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
[email protected] | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
408-688-5409 | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
W.A.S.T.E.: Aptos, CA | black markets, collapse of governments.
- Timothy C. May on Wikipedia
- 01-Sep-1992 Cypherpunk Mailing List - Libertaria in Cyberspace by Timothy C. May
- 22-Nov-1992 Cypherpunk Mailing List - The Crypto-Anarchist Manifesto by Timothy C. May
- 11-Sep-1994 Cypherpunk Mailing List - The Cyphernomicon (Mailing List FAQ) by Timothy C. May
- Dec 1994 Cypherpunk Mailing List - Crypto Anarchy and Virtual Communities by Timothy C. May
- 14-Apr-1995 Out of Control Ch 12 - E-Money by Kevin Kelly
- 1996 True Nyms and Crypto Anarchy by Timothy C. May
- 2007-2014 Tim May's Posts on Lambda-the-Ultimate