American physicist, introduced the term 'qubit' (quantum bit) and developed Schumacher's theorem on quantum data compression — a fundamental result of quantum information theory.
Biography
Born in the USA. Studied at the California Institute of Technology, received his PhD at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Professor at Kenyon College (Ohio). Also known for science popularization.
Key discoveries
Concept of the qubit (1995)
Schumacher's theorem on quantum compression (analogue of Shannon's theorem for quantum channels)
contributions to quantum information theory and quantum error correction.
💡 The term 'qubit' arose as a play on words: from 'cubit' (an ancient measure of length of 45 cm) and 'quantum bit'.
Quote: "A qubit is a unit of quantum information that can store much more than a classical bit, thanks to superposition."