PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Paolo Zanardi

Paolo Zanardi is a theoretical physicist whose work on quantum information reaches machine learning through quantum algorithms for data analysis. After a master's degree in physics at Modena in 1992 and a PhD in physics at Rome Tor Vergata, he worked at the ISI Foundation in Turin, where he and Mario Rasetti wrote "Noiseless Quantum Codes" in 1997 and "Holonomic Quantum Computation" in 1999. He moved to the University of Southern California in 2007 and was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2011. With Seth Lloyd and Silvano Garnerone, he published quantum machine learning algorithms for topological data analysis in Nature Communications in 2016. He is a Professor of Physics and Mathematics at USC Dornsife and a faculty member of the IBM Quantum Innovation Center at the University of Southern California.

Timeline

  1. 1990s

    Physics degrees in Italy

    He earns a master's degree in physics at the University of Modena in 1992, then a PhD in physics at the University of Rome Tor Vergata.

  2. 1997–1999

    Noiseless codes and holonomic computation

    In 1997, at the ISI Foundation in Turin, he and Mario Rasetti publish "Noiseless Quantum Codes" in Physical Review Letters, describing a subspace of a quantum register that is decoupled from its environment. In 1999, the two publish "Holonomic Quantum Computation" in Physics Letters A, showing that non-abelian holonomy can enable quantum computation.

  3. 2001–2011

    TOPQIP and the ISI Foundation

    From 2001 to 2011, he works with the ISI Foundation in Turin as scientific consultant and as scientific coordinator of the European FET project TOPQIP. The Foundation's profile of him notes that he belongs to the group that proposed the Excitonic Quantum Computer.

  4. 2007

    Joining USC in Los Angeles

    In 2007, he moves to the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. By 2016, he is a full professor of physics there.

  5. 2011

    An APS Fellowship

    He is elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2011 through its Division of Quantum Information, for contributions that include noiseless quantum codes and Holonomic Quantum Computation.

  6. 2016

    Quantum algorithms for data analysis

    With Seth Lloyd and Silvano Garnerone, he publishes "Quantum algorithms for topological and geometric analysis of data" in Nature Communications in January 2016. The paper presents quantum machine learning algorithms for calculating Betti numbers in persistent homology and for finding eigenvectors and eigenvalues of the combinatorial Laplacian.

  7. 2024–2025

    Quantum subsystems and mereology

    In 2024, he gives the InstituteQ colloquium "What is Quantum Subsystem?" for the Finnish Quantum Institute. In October 2025, he, Emanuel Dallas and Faidon Andreadakis post "Mereological Quantum Phase Transitions" to arXiv, which introduces mereological quantum phase transitions built on a quantum scrambling functional.

  8. As of October 2026

    Professor at USC

    He is a Professor of Physics and Mathematics at USC Dornsife and a faculty member of the IBM Quantum Innovation Center at the University of Southern California.

Career

  1. NowUniversity of Southern CaliforniaProfessor of Physics and Mathematics
  2. 2001–2011ISI FoundationScientific consultant and scientific coordinator

Education

  1. 1992University of ModenaMaster's degree in physics
  2. University of Rome Tor VergataPhD in physics

From the biography.

  1. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labsIncludes University of Southern California. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labs. We compare publishing careers, recent citations, dual appointments and job moves across 2,420 university researchers and 308 frontier-lab researchers.
  2. Universities had a net outflow of 2,068 moves in AI careersIncludes University of Southern California. Our estimates of career flows and median h-index across universities and companies in AI, including the role of joint appointments and earlier academic jobs.
  3. People shaping AI work at a median of 3 organizations over a career: 3 for university starters and institute and lab starters, versus 2 for company startersIncludes University of Southern California. Across 6,853 people shaping AI with a dated work role, we estimate a median of 3 parent organizations over a career (mean 3.6), comparing role groups, starting sectors and starting decades from the 1950s to 2020–2026.
  4. Google has the highest combined h-index among AI organizationsIncludes University of Southern California. We estimate that Google holds the highest combined h-index at 8,016, while universities account for 73% of the deduplicated total across AI organizations.

Colleagues

People named in this biography, and people with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

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

  1. Paolo Zanardi - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org. Checked 22 October 2026.
  2. [quant-ph/9705044] Noiseless Quantum Codes arxiv.org. Checked 22 October 2026.
  3. [quant-ph/9904011] Holonomic Quantum Computation arxiv.org. Checked 22 October 2026.
  4. Zanardi Paolo - ISI Foundation isi.it. Checked 22 October 2026.
  5. Quantum Algorithms for Topological and Geometric Analysis of Big Data - CSRC Seminars csrc.ac.cn. Checked 22 October 2026.
  6. Quantum algorithms for topological and geometric analysis of data - Nature Communications nature.com. Checked 22 October 2026.
  7. InstituteQ Colloquium: Prof. Paolo Zanardi - InstituteQ instituteq.fi. Checked 22 October 2026.
  8. [2510.06389] Mereological Quantum Phase Transitions arxiv.org. Checked 22 October 2026.
  9. Paolo Zanardi - USC Dornsife dornsife.usc.edu. Checked 22 October 2026.
  10. Faculty - IBM Quantum Innovation Center at the University of Southern California dornsife.usc.edu. Checked 22 October 2026.