- Scott Aaronson
-
Scott Joel Aaronson 
Scott Joel AaronsonBorn May 21, 1981
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USAResidence USA Nationality American Fields Computational complexity theory, Quantum Computing Institutions Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Institute for Advanced Study
University of WaterlooAlma mater Cornell University
University of California, BerkeleyDoctoral advisor Umesh Vazirani Known for Quantum Turing with postselection
AlgebrizationScott Joel Aaronson (born May 21, 1981)[1] is a theoretical computer scientist and faculty member in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Contents
Education
He obtained his B.Sc. in computer science from Cornell University in 2000,[2] and his Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley in 2004, under the supervision of Umesh Vazirani.[3]
Career
After postdoctorates at the Institute for Advanced Study and the University of Waterloo, he took a faculty position at MIT in 2007.[2] His primary area of research is quantum computing and computational complexity theory more generally.
Popular work
He is a founder of the Complexity Zoo wiki, which catalogs all classes of computational complexity.[4][5] He is the author of the much-read blog "Shtetl-Optimized" [6] as well as the essay Who Can Name The Bigger Number?.[7] The latter work, widely distributed in academic computer science, uses the concept of Busy Beaver Numbers as described by Tibor Radó to illustrate the limits of computability in a pedagogic environment. He's also taught a graduate-level survey course called Quantum Computing Since Democritus,[8] for which the notes are available online and which is expected to be published as a book by Cambridge University Press.[9] It weaves together seemingly disparate topics into a cohesive whole, including quantum mechanics, complexity, free will, time travel, the anthropic principle and many others. Many of these interdisciplinary applications of computational complexity were later fleshed out in his article "Why Philosophers Should Care About Computational Complexity".[10] An article of Aaronson's, "The Limits of Quantum Computers", was published in Scientific American,[11] and he was a guest speaker at the 2007 Foundational Questions in Science Institute conference.[12] Aaronson is frequently cited in non-academic press, such as Science News,[13] The Age,[14] ZDNet,[15] Slashdot,[16] New Scientist,[17] The New York Times,[18] and Forbes Magazine.[19]
Intellectual property
Aaronson was the subject of media attention in October 2007, when he accused an advertising agency of plagiarizing a lecture he wrote on quantum mechanics in an advertisement of theirs.[20] He alleged that a commercial for Ricoh Australia by Sydney-based agency Love Communications appropriated content almost verbatim from the lecture.[21] Aaronson received an apologetic email from the agency in which they claimed to have sought legal advice and did not believe that they were in violation of his copyright. Unsatisfied, Aaronson pursued the matter, and the agency settled the dispute without admitting wrongdoing by making a charitable contribution to two science organizations of his choice.[21]
References
- ^ Aaronson, Scott. "Scott Aaronson". Qwiki. http://qwiki.stanford.edu/wiki/Scott_Aaronson.
- ^ a b CV from Aaronson's web site.
- ^ Scott Joel Aaronson at the Mathematics Genealogy Project.
- ^ Automata, Computability and Complexity by Elaine Rich (2008) ISBN 0132288060, p. 589, section "The Complexity Zoo"
- ^ The Complexity Zoo page at Qwiki (a quantum physics wiki, Stanford University)
- ^ http://scottaaronson.com/blog
- ^ http://www.scottaaronson.com/writings/bignumbers.html
- ^ http://www.scottaaronson.com/democritus/
- ^ http://www.scottaaronson.com/vita.pdf
- ^ Aaronson, Scott (2011). "Why Philosophers Should Care About Computational Complexity". arXiv:1108.1791v3.
- ^ Aaronson, Scott (February 2008). "The Limits of Quantum Computers". Scientific American. http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=the-limits-of-quantum-computers.
- ^ "Foundational Questions in Science Institute conference". The Science Show. ABC Radio. 18 August 2007. http://www.abc.net.au/rn/scienceshow/stories/2007/2007888.htm. Retrieved 2008-12-01.
- ^ Peterson, Ivars (November 20, 1999). "Quantum Games". Science News (Science Service) 156 (21): 334. http://www.sciencenews.org/sn_arc99/11_20_99/bob2.htm. Retrieved 2008-12-01.
- ^ Franklin, Roger (November 17, 2002). "Two-digit theory gets two fingers". The Age (Melbourne). http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/11/16/1037080961482.html. Retrieved 2008-12-01.
- ^ Judge, Peter (November 9, 2007). "D-Wave's quantum computer ready for latest demo". ZDNet. CNET. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9584_22-175054.html. Retrieved 2008-12-01.
- ^ Dawson, Keith (November 29, 2008). "Improving Wikipedia Coverage of Computer Science". Slashdot. http://news.slashdot.org/news/08/11/29/1814222.shtml. Retrieved 2008-12-01.
- ^ Brooks, Michael (March 31, 2007). "Outside of time: The quantum gravity computer". New Scientist (2597). http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19325971.500-outside-of-time-the-quantum-gravity-computer.html?full=true.
- ^ Pontin, Jason (April 8, 2007). "A Giant Leap Forward in Computing? Maybe Not". The New York Times (The New York Times Company). http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/08/business/yourmoney/08slip.html?pagewanted=all. Retrieved 2008-12-01.
- ^ Gomes, Lee (December 12, 2008). "Your World View Doesn't Compute". Forbes. http://www.forbes.com/sciencesandmedicine/2008/12/10/hot-topics-contradictions-tech-sciences_cz_lg_1211gomes.html.
- ^ Tadros, Edmund (October 3, 2007). "Ad agency cribbed my lecture notes: professor". The Age (Melbourne). http://www.theage.com.au/news/technology/hey-thats-my-lecture/2007/10/03/1191091161163.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1. Retrieved 2008-12-01.
- ^ a b Tadros, Edmund (December 20, 2007). "Ad company settles plagiarism complaint". The Age (Melbourne). http://www.theage.com.au/news/web/ad-company-settles-plagiarism-complaint/2007/12/24/1198344929937.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1. Retrieved 2008-12-01.
External links
- Aaronson at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
- Aaronson at the ACM Portal
- Aaronson's PhD thesis
- Aaronson at the Scientific Commons
- Aaronson at CiteSeer
- Aaronson's Amazon reviewer profile
- Aaronson's blog
- Aaronson's Qwiki profile
- Aaronson homepage
- Video (with mp3 available) of conversation with Aaronson and Eliezer Yudkowsky on Bloggingheads.tv
Categories:- Cornell University alumni
- University of California, Berkeley alumni
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty
- Theoretical computer scientists
- Science bloggers
- 1981 births
- Living people
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