Richard Cleve
Also known as Richard E Cleve
Richard Cleve is a computer scientist whose work on quantum algorithms and computational complexity connects to AI through the shared question of what computation can do. He earned mathematics degrees at Waterloo and a computer science PhD at Toronto, then worked at Berkeley and Calgary before joining Waterloo as a professor and IQC Chair in 2004. His coauthored research set out universal quantum gates, used interference to organize quantum algorithms, and established bounds for resources in quantum position-verification schemes. He received the CAP/CRM Prize in 2008 and became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2010. As of October 2026, he is a professor and IQC Chair at Waterloo and teaches quantum information processing.
Timeline
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1983–1989
Mathematics and computer science degrees
He earns a BMath in Pure Mathematics and Computer Science at Waterloo in 1983, an MMath in Pure Mathematics in 1984, and a computer science PhD at Toronto in 1989, specializing in computational complexity and cryptography.
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1988–1990
From Berkeley to Calgary
He works as a postdoctoral fellow at Berkeley's International Computer Science Institute from 1988 to 1990, then joins the University of Calgary's computer science faculty in 1990.
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1994–1995
Elementary quantum gates
He becomes interested in quantum information processing in 1994. In 1995, he coauthors a paper showing that one-bit quantum gates and a two-bit exclusive-or gate can compose any unitary operation.
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1997
Quantum Algorithms Revisited
With Artur Ekert, Chiara Macchiavello, and Michele Mosca, he presents Quantum Algorithms Revisited in 1997, using multi-particle interference to review and improve quantum algorithms.
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Since August 2004
Professor and IQC chair
He joins Waterloo's School of Computer Science in August 2004 as a professor and holds the IQC Chair in Quantum Computing.
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2008–2010
The CAP/CRM and RSC honours
He receives the CAP/CRM Prize in Theoretical and Mathematical Physics in 2008 and becomes a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2010.
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2025
Quantum position-verification bounds
With Vahid Asadi, Eric Culf, and Alex May, he proves a 2025 communication-complexity lower bound on the quantum gates and measurements needed to compute functions used in two position-verification schemes.
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As of October 2026
Teaching quantum information
He is a professor and IQC Chair at Waterloo and teaches QIC 710, Introduction to Quantum Information Processing, in Fall 2026.
Sources and credits
Photo: We have no published photo of Richard Cleve yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.
- Richard Cleve | Institute for Quantum Computing | University of Waterloo
- Elementary gates for quantum computation for Physical Review A - IBM Research
- [quant-ph/9708016] Quantum Algorithms Revisited
- IQC faculty member named Royal Society Fellow | Institute for Quantum Computing | University of Waterloo
- Linear gate bounds against natural functions for position-verification – Quantum
- Alternate QIC 710 F26