Seth Lloyd
Seth Lloyd is a professor of mechanical engineering at MIT. He has designed quantum algorithms for simulation, matrix inversion, and quantum machine learning, and in 2014 he and two co-authors published a paper on quantum principal component analysis in Nature Physics. His 2006 book Programming the Universe argues that the universe can be understood as a quantum computer. He received the International Quantum Communication Award in 2012. In December 2020 a majority of an MIT review panel found that he had failed to tell the university that Jeffrey Epstein was a convicted sex offender.
Timeline
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1988
A physics PhD at Rockefeller
He completes a physics PhD at Rockefeller University in 1988, advised by Heinz Pagels.
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1991–1994
Quantum computation at Los Alamos
He works as a postdoctoral researcher on quantum computation at Los Alamos National Laboratory from 1991 to 1994. In 1994 he joins the mechanical engineering department at MIT.
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1996
Universal quantum simulators
In 1996 he publishes a Science paper showing that a quantum computer can efficiently simulate quantum systems with local interactions.
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2006
Programming the Universe
In 2006 he publishes Programming the Universe, which argues that the universe can be understood as a quantum computer.
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2012
An international quantum prize
In 2012 he receives the International Quantum Communication Award.
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2014
Quantum principal component analysis
In 2014 he and two co-authors publish a paper on quantum principal component analysis in Nature Physics. He has designed quantum algorithms for simulation, matrix inversion, and quantum machine learning.
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2020
An MIT review of Epstein donations
In December 2020 MIT announces the conclusions of an internal faculty review. A majority of the review panel finds that he failed to tell MIT that Jeffrey Epstein was a convicted sex offender.
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As of October 2026
Professor at MIT
He is a professor of mechanical engineering at MIT.
Sources and credits
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