K. Birgitta Whaley
Also known as Birgitta Whaley, K.B. Whaley
Birgitta Whaley is a professor of chemical physics at UC Berkeley whose research includes quantum computing, quantum biology, and machine learning. She studied chemistry at Oxford and chemical physics at Chicago, then moved to Berkeley in 1986. She coauthored a 1998 paper on decoherence-free subspaces, a quantum machine learning study, and a recurrent neural network method for quantum error correction. She became a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2002, chaired its Division of Chemical Physics from 2009 to 2011, and joined the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2018. As of October 2026, she is a professor of chemical physics and director of Berkeley's Quantum Information and Computation Center; in September 2026, she and colleagues proposed a superfluid helium sensor to measure Earth's frame dragging.
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Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 15 October 2026. Citations and h-index are hidden because this OpenAlex record may be incomplete or mix in other authors.
Timeline
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1978–1984
Oxford and Chicago studies
She earns a B.A. in chemistry from Oxford in 1978, holds a Kennedy fellowship at Harvard in 1978–1979, and completes a Ph.D. in chemical physics at the University of Chicago in 1984.
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1986
Moving to Berkeley
She moves to Berkeley in 1986 after research positions at Hebrew University in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv University.
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1998
Decoherence-free subspaces
With Daniel Lidar and Isaac Chuang, she publishes “Decoherence Free Subspaces for Quantum Computation,” which shows how these subspaces can support universal quantum computation.
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2002–2011
APS fellowship and chair
She becomes a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2002 and serves as vice chair, chair elect, and chair of its Division of Chemical Physics from 2009 to 2011.
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2007
Turning to quantum biology
She turns to quantum biology in 2007 after experiments show that green sulphur bacteria use quantum effects to synthesize sugar from light. She studies how these organisms process quantum information and what this can teach about robust quantum computers.
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2018
Quantum machine learning
In 2018, she coauthors “Towards Quantum Machine Learning with Tensor Networks,” which proposes tensor-network circuits for discriminative and generative learning. She becomes a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2018.
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2021
Neural networks for error correction
In 2021, she coauthors work that proposes a recurrent neural network to identify bit-flip errors from noisy syndrome measurements for continuous quantum error correction.
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As of October 2026
Professor and center director
As of October 2026, she is a professor of chemical physics and director of Berkeley's Quantum Information and Computation Center. Her research includes quantum algorithms, quantum control, quantum information, and quantum measurement. In September 2026, she and colleagues propose an ultracold superfluid helium sensor to measure Earth's frame dragging.
Sources and credits
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- Quantum Effects in Photosynthesis
- Decoherence Free Subspaces for Quantum Computation
- K. Birgitta Whaley | College of Chemistry
- In Pursuit of Quantum Biology With Birgitta Whaley
- Towards Quantum Machine Learning with Tensor Networks
- Birgitta Whaley | International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science
- Machine Learning for Continuous Quantum Error Correction on Superconducting Qubits
- K. Birgitta Whaley | Research UC Berkeley
- Detecting How Earth Twists Spacetime