PeopleofSuperintelligence

Builder

Ralf Gommers

Ralf Gommers is a physicist and open source maintainer, one of the leads of NumPy and SciPy, the Python libraries for arrays and scientific algorithms. After a London physics PhD on the ratchet effect with cold atoms and a postdoc at MIT from 2007, he became NumPy’s release manager in 2010. He joined Quansight in 2019 to build Quansight Labs, and in 2020 he was an author of the Nature paper “Array programming with NumPy” and the Nature Methods paper “SciPy 1.0”. NEP 56, which he coauthored in 2023, proposed array API standard support in NumPy’s main namespace, part of a standard that lets libraries like SciPy and scikit-learn run the same code on CPUs and GPUs. He is co-CEO of Quansight, with the title CEO, Technology.

Now at
Quansight
Links
Website, LinkedIn and GitHub

Timeline

  1. 2004–2007

    Cold-atom physics in London

    After an MSc in Applied Physics at Eindhoven University of Technology in 2004, he moves to London for a physics PhD on the ratchet effect with cold atoms in an optical lattice. In 2007, he comes to MIT as a postdoctoral fellow in BEC2 at the MIT-Harvard Center for Ultracold Atoms.

  2. Since 2010

    Release manager for NumPy

    In early 2010, he takes over as NumPy release manager after five days without another volunteer, and he takes on SciPy as well. He is one of the leads of both projects from 2010 onward, and for about ten years he does the work as a volunteer, at 10 to 15 hours a week on average.

  3. 2012–2018

    NumFOCUS board and forestry data

    From 2012 to 2018, he serves on the NumFOCUS Board of Directors. By 2018, he is a senior data scientist in the forestry industry at FP Innovations in Vancouver and Scion in Rotorua, and a core developer of SciPy, NumPy and PyWavelets.

  4. 2019

    Building Quansight Labs

    In 2019, he joins Quansight to build Quansight Labs, a public benefit division and home for open source maintainers. As its leader, he spends about half his time on management and funding and the other half contributing to NumPy and SciPy as part of his job.

  5. 2020

    Papers on NumPy and SciPy

    In 2020, he is an author of the Nature review “Array programming with NumPy” and of “SciPy 1.0: fundamental algorithms for scientific computing in Python” in Nature Methods. The NumPy paper describes the library as the primary array programming library for Python, and the SciPy paper counts over 600 unique code contributors.

  6. 2023

    Array API standard and NEP 56

    In 2023, he and collaborators present the Python array API standard at SciPy 2023, a common specification for array libraries such as NumPy, PyTorch, CuPy, Dask and JAX that lets one code base run on CPUs and GPUs. In December 2023, he co-authors NEP 56 with Mateusz Sokół and Nathan Goldbaum, which proposes array API standard support in NumPy’s main namespace for the 2.0 release.

  7. March 2024

    NumPy 2.0 pre-release

    In March 2024, NumPy publishes the first pre-release of 2.0, its first new major version in 16 years. As a NumPy lead, he names the Python array API standard, the core 150 or so functions of an array library, as a change he has worked on for years, so that SciPy and higher-level libraries can run on GPUs or with PyTorch and JAX.

  8. As of October 2026

    Co-CEO of Quansight

    He is co-CEO of Quansight, with the title CEO, Technology, and he maintains NumPy, SciPy and meson-python. He created pypackaging-native, a reference on packaging C/C++, Fortran, GPU and hardware dependencies, and in 2026 he is a nominee in the Python Packaging Council election and gives a CERN seminar on sustaining NumPy and SciPy as AI infrastructure grows.

Career

  1. Since 2019QuansightLeader
  2. 2012–2018NumFOCUSBoard member
  3. From 2007Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard UniversityPostdoctoral Fellow
  4. FPInnovationsSenior data scientist
  5. Bioeconomy Science InstituteSenior data scientist

Education

  1. 2004Eindhoven University of TechnologyMSc in Applied Physics

From the biography.

  1. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes Eindhoven University of Technology. 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 Eindhoven University of Technology. 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 Eindhoven University of Technology. 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 Ralf Gommers yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Ralf Gommers — MIT-Harvard Center for Ultracold Atoms cua.mit.edu. Checked 22 October 2026.
  2. Once a Maintainer: Ralf Gommers onceamaintainer.substack.com. Checked 22 October 2026.
  3. Nominee for 2026 Python Packaging Council Election: Ralf Gommers python.org. Checked 22 October 2026.
  4. SciPy 2018 Conference Presenters: Ralf Gommers scipy2018.scipy.org. Checked 22 October 2026.
  5. Array programming with NumPy nature.com. Checked 22 October 2026.
  6. SciPy 1.0: fundamental algorithms for scientific computing in Python nature.com. Checked 22 October 2026.
  7. Ralf Gommers :: SciPy 2023 cfp.scipy.org. Checked 22 October 2026.
  8. NEP 56 — Array API standard support in NumPy’s main namespace numpy.org. Checked 22 October 2026.
  9. Dr. Ralf Gommers – CERN STEAM Academy steamacademy.web.cern.ch. Checked 22 October 2026.
  10. Our Story I About Us I Quansight Consulting quansight.com. Checked 22 October 2026.