RSA cryptography, named after its inventors Ron Rivest, Adi Shamir, and Leonard Adleman, revolutionized modern cryptography upon its discovery in 1977. The RSA algorithm is based on the mathematical properties of prime numbers and modular arithmetic. It relies on the difficulty of factoring large composite numbers into their prime factors, a problem believed to be computationally infeasible for sufficiently large numbers.

Rivest, Shamir, and Adleman, who were researchers at MIT and Stanford, developed RSA while exploring methods for secure communication and encryption. Their breakthrough came from combining two separate ideas: the public key encryption concept proposed by Whitfield Diffie and Martin Hellman, and the concept of digital signatures.

The RSA algorithm works by generating a public key and a private key pair. The public key is shared openly, allowing anyone to encrypt messages, while the private key is kept secret and used for decryption. This asymmetric key system enables secure communication and digital signatures, as messages encrypted with the public key can only be decrypted using the corresponding private key.

Since its inception, RSA cryptography has become a cornerstone of modern cybersecurity, widely used in secure communication protocols, digital signatures, and encryption schemes. Its impact extends across various domains, including e-commerce, secure messaging, and data protection, shaping the way information is transmitted and secured in the digital age.