Rolf Landauer

! scientist · # tag · @ author

1927-1999 · information physics, quantum computing, statistical physics

German-American physicist, pioneer in the field of information physics. Formulated Landauer's principle, linking the erasure of information with the inevitable release of heat, which became the foundation for the theory of reversible and quantum computing.

Biography

Born in Stuttgart. Emigrated to the USA in 1938. Studied at Harvard, received his PhD there. Spent his entire career at IBM Research, where he became one of the leading scientists. Member of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering. Recipient of numerous awards, including the Oliver E. Buckley Prize.

Key discoveries

Landauer's principle (1961)
according to which erasing one bit of information at temperature T requires a minimum energy of kT ln 2
the idea of reversible logic and the connection between information and thermodynamics
contribution to the understanding of conductivity in mesoscopic systems.

💡 Landauer was a well-known skeptic regarding the exponential growth of computing power, which led to heated debates with colleagues.

Quote: "Information is physical."

Links in the knowledge graph 1

Related tags

entropy quantum computer

Related laws

Landauer's principle

Related scientists

Jacob Bekenstein David Deutsch Wilhelm Wien Ludwig Boltzmann Charles Bennett John von Neumann Richard Feynman David Wineland

Information — The Shadow of What Never Was

What is information? Not a substance, nor an empty abstraction. Rather, it’s the shadow of all the options that never came to be. When we erase data, the shadow vanishes, releasing a tiny amount of heat. In black holes, this shadow thickens but doesn’t disappear—a puzzle leading to quantum gravity.

arXiv:2606.15120 · 2026-06-13

Rolf Landauer

Biography

Key discoveries

Related articles

Information — The Shadow of What Never Was