PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Edward Farhi

Also known as Eddie Farhi

Edward Farhi is a physicist who works on quantum algorithms for optimization and on quantum neural networks for classification. He earned a Harvard PhD in 1978, joined MIT in 1982, and directed the MIT Center for Theoretical Physics from 2004 to 2016. In 2014 he, Jeffrey Goldstone, and Sam Gutmann introduced the Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm for approximate solutions to combinatorial optimization problems. With Hartmut Neven, he submitted a paper on quantum neural networks in February 2018. He is a principal scientist at Google, where he works on quantum computation.

Now at
Google
Works
192
Citations
24,404
h-index
68

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 15 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 1978

    A Harvard physics PhD

    He studies physics at Brandeis and earns a Harvard PhD in 1978 under Howard Georgi.

  2. 1982

    Joining the MIT faculty

    He joins MIT in 1982 after staff posts at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center and at CERN.

  3. 2004–2016

    Directing MIT's Center for Theoretical Physics

    He directs the MIT Center for Theoretical Physics from 2004 until 2016.

  4. 2014

    The Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm

    In 2014 he, Jeffrey Goldstone, and Sam Gutmann introduce a quantum algorithm for approximate solutions to combinatorial optimization problems.

  5. February 2018

    Quantum neural networks for classification

    In February 2018 he and Hartmut Neven submit a paper titled 'Classification with Quantum Neural Networks on Near Term Processors' to arXiv.

  6. By 2020

    Three MIT teaching awards

    He wins three teaching awards at MIT, and in 2000, 2001, and 2002 he lectures the freshman physics course.

  7. As of October 2026

    A principal scientist at Google

    He retires from MIT in 2018, and he is a physicist and a principal scientist at Google, working on quantum computation.

Sources and credits

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  1. ICTP Colloquium by Dr. Eddie Farhi: POSTPONED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE indico.ictp.it. Checked 15 October 2026.
  2. Edward Farhi - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org. Checked 15 October 2026.
  3. About the Authors: Theory of Computing: An Open Access Electronic Journal in Theoretical Computer Science toc.cs.uchicago.edu. Checked 15 October 2026.
  4. [1411.4028] A Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm arxiv.org. Checked 15 October 2026.
  5. [1802.06002] Classification with Quantum Neural Networks on Near Term Processors arxiv.org. Checked 15 October 2026.
  6. [1802.06002v1] Classification with Quantum Neural Networks on Near Term Processors arxiv.org. Checked 15 October 2026.