He received the IEEE Richard W. Hamming Medal in 2010 and has published works on molecular manipulation and self-replicating machines.

He serves on the board of directors of the cryonics organization Alcor Life Extension Foundation and appears in the science fiction novel The Diamond Age.

[4][5] At Xerox PARC Merkle designed the Khufu and Khafre block ciphers and the Snefru hash function.

[7] He is active in the field of molecular manipulation and self-replicating machines and has published books on the subject.

Merkle is on the board of directors of the cryonics organization Alcor Life Extension Foundation.