PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Gerardo Adesso

Gerardo Adesso is a theoretical physicist whose research connects quantum information with artificial intelligence. He earned a physics PhD at the University of Salerno in 2007, joined Nottingham in 2009, and became a professor and group leader in 2016. His grants supported studies of useful quantum resources and the foundations of intelligence, and his 2023 work tested ChatGPT's role in scientific discovery. In a 2025 paper, he examined quantum memory effects in thermodynamic work; as of October 2026, he is Professor of Mathematical Physics at Nottingham.

Born
1981
Works
337
Citations
20,817
h-index
71

Years link to their sources. Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 22 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 2007

    A Salerno PhD

    At the University of Salerno, he completes a physics PhD in 2007; his doctoral research focuses on quantifying entanglement in continuous-variable quantum systems.

  2. 2009

    Lecturer at Nottingham

    After a postdoctoral period at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, he joins the University of Nottingham as a Lecturer in January 2009.

  3. March 2015

    An ERC Starting Grant

    In March 2015, he wins a €1.35 million European Research Council Starting Grant to investigate quantum resources in noisy and complex systems.

  4. 2016

    Professor and group leader

    In 2016, he becomes Professor of Mathematical Physics at Nottingham and heads a research team that includes junior staff, postdocs, PhD students and visiting scientists.

  5. 2019

    The ultimate brain grant

    In 2019, FQxI awards his team $100,000 for The ultimate brain, a project that tests whether intelligence can arise under classical, quantum and post-quantum theories and uses machine-learning tasks to benchmark performance.

  6. 2023

    ChatGPT and scientific discovery

    In 2023, he publishes Towards the ultimate brain: Exploring scientific discovery with ChatGPT AI, a gamified study in which ChatGPT defines and benchmarks hypothetical physical theories.

  7. 2025

    Quantum processes and thermodynamics

    With Guilherme Zambon, he coauthors a Physical Review Letters paper published in May 2025 that links non-Markovian memory in quantum processes to increased work extraction.

  8. As of October 2026

    Professor at Nottingham

    He is Professor of Mathematical Physics in Nottingham's School of Mathematical Sciences. In January 2026, he presents work on non-Markovian quantum processes and thermodynamic resources.

Career

  1. Since 2009University of NottinghamLecturer
  2. 2006–2009National Interuniversity Consortium for the Physical Sciences of Matter
  3. 2003–2009Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Gruppo Collegato di Salerno
  4. Autonomous University of BarcelonaPostdoctoral researcher

Education

  1. 2007University of SalernoPhD

From the biography and OpenAlex affiliations (the years of papers that list the organization), so some years are approximate.

  1. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes University of Nottingham. We estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.
  2. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes University of Nottingham. We estimate where the people shaping AI worked when their most-cited papers appeared: the company share was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974, and Google led all organizations in 2020–2024.
  3. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes Autonomous University of Barcelona. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and 5+ year employment links, career timing and current workplaces for 187 major-prize and 1,111 best-paper winners.
  4. Google had the most people shaping AI every year from 2014 to 2025Our estimates of which organizations employed the most people shaping AI each year from 1955 to 2025, tracing the shift from university labs to companies.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Gerardo Adesso yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Do not get discouraged by the struggles of academia. There are plenty of success stories! – an interview with Professor Gerardo Adesso jphysplus.wordpress.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. Giant step towards the quantum revolution nottingham.ac.uk. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. Zenith Grant Awardee fqxi.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. Zenith Grant Awardees fqxi.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. Towards The Ultimate Brain: Exploring Scientific Discovery with ChatGPT AI arxiv.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. Quantum Processes as Thermodynamic Resources: The Role of Non-Markovianity journals.aps.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  7. Gerardo Adesso – Professor of Mathematical Physics maths.nottingham.ac.uk. Checked 21 October 2026.
  8. Quantum Processes as Thermodynamic Resources: The Role of Non-Markovianity ifisc.uib-csic.es. Checked 21 October 2026.