UT Austin Computer Scientist Elected to National Academy of Sciences
Scott Aaronson, a renowned quantum computing expert, joins the country’s most prestigious scientific organization.
Scott Aaronson, a professor of computer science at The University of Texas at Austin, was elected this week to the National Academy of Sciences. The academy is the country’s most prestigious scientific organization, and election to it is one of the highest honors for American researchers.
Aaronson, the Schlumberger Centennial Chair of Computer Science, is one of 120 members and 25 international members inducted this year at the 163rd Annual Meeting of the NAS in recognition of distinguished and continuing achievements in original scientific research.
“It's gratifying to receive an honor like this,” Aaronson said. “I especially feel grateful to all the colleagues, mentors, and students I've worked with over the years, who believed in me and helped me.”
A graduate of Cornell University, Aaronson earned a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of California, Berkeley. Following stints as a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute for Advanced Study and the University of Waterloo, and as a faculty member at the Massachusetts Institute for Technology, he joined the UT faculty in 2016.
His research interests center around the capabilities and limits of quantum computers and computational complexity theory more generally. Quantum computers use the principles of physics at the smallest scales to process information in fundamentally different ways than ordinary computers.
Aaronson helped develop the concept of quantum supremacy, the milestone at which a quantum device can solve a problem that no classical computer can solve in a reasonable amount of time. He established many of the theoretical foundations of quantum supremacy experiments. Such experiments allow scientists to give convincing evidence that quantum computers provide exponential speedups without having to first build a full fault-tolerant quantum computer.
Aaronson’s previous honors include the ACM Prize in Computing (2020), the Tomassoni-Chisesi Prize in Physics (2018), a Simons Investigator Award (2017) and the Alan T. Waterman Award of the National Science Foundation (2012).
Beyond his technical contributions, Aaronson has become recognized as a leading spokesperson for the field. He maintains a popular blog, Shtetl Optimized, where he explains timely and exciting topics in computing. He also authored Quantum Computing Since Democritus, a highly respected book on quantum computing. And he has written several articles for popular science audiences and presented a TED Talk at TEDxDresden to dispel misconceptions and provide the public with a more accurate overview of the field.
The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit institution that was established under a congressional charter signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863. The academy recognizes achievement in science by election to membership, and—with the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Medicine—provides science, engineering and health policy advice to the federal government and other organizations. Aaronson is one of 25 faculty members in the College of Natural Sciences across the National Academies.
