Paul Benioff

Biography

Born in New York. Educated in chemistry and physics, PhD in nuclear chemistry. Worked at Argonne National Laboratory. Despite modest fame, his work laid the foundation for quantum computing. He was active until the end of his life, publishing works on quantum information.

Key discoveries

• Concept of a quantum computer as a quantum mechanical system
• capable of simulating a classical Turing machine (1980)
• development of a quantum Turing machine model
• research on quantum algorithms and complexity.