William K. Wootters

Also known as Bill Wootters, William Kent Wootters

William Wootters is a theoretical physicist whose work in quantum information includes the no-cloning theorem, quantum teleportation and a formula for two-qubit entanglement. He earned a bachelor's degree from Stanford University in 1973 and a physics doctorate from the University of Texas at Austin in 1980, then joined Williams College's physics department in 1982. A conversation between him and Benjamin Schumacher in 1992 gave quantum information the term qubit, and Wootters coauthored a quantum teleportation paper in 1993. He coauthored Protecting Information with Susan Loepp in 2006, received the International Quantum Communications Award in 2006 and won the American Physical Society's undergraduate research prize in 2007. As of October 2026, he is a professor emeritus at Williams College.

Now at: Williams College
Born: 1951
Works: 138
Citations: 53,224
h-index: 44
Badges: Loyal
Pioneer

Years link to their sources. Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 22 October 2026.

Timeline

1973–1980

Stanford and a Texas doctorate

He earns a B.S. from Stanford University in 1973 and a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Texas at Austin in 1980. His thesis is titled The Acquisition of Information from Quantum Measurements; Linda Reichl is his doctoral advisor, and John A. Wheeler serves as a mentor.
1982

No-cloning and Williams

In a 1982 joint paper with Wojciech H. Zurek, he proves the no-cloning theorem. Dennis Dieks reaches the same result at the same time, and he joins the physics department at Williams College in 1982.
1992–1993

Qubits and quantum teleportation

The term qubit, the basic unit of quantum information, originates in a 1992 conversation between Wootters and Benjamin Schumacher. In 1993, he coauthors “Teleporting an unknown quantum state via dual classical and Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen channels” with Charles H. Bennett, Gilles Brassard, Claude Crépeau, Richard Jozsa and Asher Peres.
1997–1998

Entanglement of formation

In a 1997 paper with Scott Hill, he finds an exact formula for the entanglement of formation of two-qubit mixed states with no more than two nonzero eigenvalues. His 1998 paper extends the proof to arbitrary states of two qubits and shows how to construct entanglement-minimizing pure-state decompositions.
2006

An international quantum award

In 2006, the International Organization for Quantum Communication, Measurement and Computing and Tamagawa University present him with the International Quantum Communications Award at a ceremony in Tsukuba, Japan.
2006

A quantum cryptography book

With Susan Loepp, he publishes Protecting Information: From Classical Error Correction to Quantum Cryptography in 2006.
2007

An APS undergraduate research prize

The American Physical Society awards him its Prize to a Faculty Member for Research in an Undergraduate Institution in 2007, citing his work on quantum teleportation, quantum information theory and undergraduate research.
As of October 2026

Professor emeritus at Williams

He is a professor emeritus at Williams College. He serves in its physics department from 1982 to 2017 and holds the title of Barclay Jermain Professor of Natural Philosophy.