Jump to content

David Deutsch: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
Yobot (talk | contribs)
Bots
4,733,870 edits
m WP:CHECKWIKI error fixes using AWB (12016)
Line 108: Line 108:
* [http://royalsociety.tv/dpx_royalsociety/dpx.php?cmd=autoplay&type=solo&dpxuser=dpx_v12&pres=307 The universality of quantum computation, and its implications]
* [http://royalsociety.tv/dpx_royalsociety/dpx.php?cmd=autoplay&type=solo&dpxuser=dpx_v12&pres=307 The universality of quantum computation, and its implications]


{{FRS 2008}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Authority control}}


Revision as of 13:22, 8 June 2016

David Deutsch
Born (1953-05-18) 18 May 1953 (age 71)[2]
Haifa, Israel
Alma materClare College, Cambridge
Wolfson College, Oxford
Known forQuantum computing
Quantum Turing machine
Church-Turing-Deutsch principle
Deutsch-Jozsa algorithm
Quantum logic gate
Quantum circuit
Quantum error correction
Qubit field theory
Constructor theory
The Fabric of Reality
The Beginning of Infinity
AwardsDirac Prize (1998)
Scientific career
FieldsTheoretical physics
Quantum information science
InstitutionsUniversity of Oxford
Clarendon Laboratory
Doctoral advisorDennis Sciama
Doctoral studentsArtur Ekert

David Elieser Deutsch, FRS (born 18 May 1953) is an Israeli-born British physicist at the University of Oxford. He is a non-stipendiary Visiting Professor in the Department of Atomic and Laser Physics at the Centre for Quantum Computation (CQC) in the Clarendon Laboratory of the University of Oxford. He pioneered the field of quantum computation by formulating a description for a quantum Turing machine, as well as specifying an algorithm designed to run on a quantum computer.[3] He is a proponent of the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics.

Early life and education

Deutsch was born in Haifa in Israel on 18 May 1953, the son of Oskar and Tikva Deutsch. He attended William Ellis School in London (then a voluntary aided grammar school) before reading Natural Sciences at Clare College, Cambridge and taking Part III of the Mathematical Tripos. He went on to Wolfson College, Oxford for his doctorate in theoretical physics and wrote his thesis on quantum field theory in curved space-time.[2][1]

Career

In the Royal Society of London's announcement that Deutsch had become a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2008, the Society described Deutsch's contributions thus:[4]

David Deutsch laid the foundations of the quantum theory of computation, and has subsequently made or participated in many of the most important advances in the field, including the discovery of the first quantum algorithms, the theory of quantum logic gates and quantum computational networks, the first quantum error-correction scheme, and several fundamental quantum universality results. He has set the agenda for worldwide research efforts in this new, interdisciplinary field, made progress in understanding its philosophical implications (via a variant of the many-universes interpretation) and made it comprehensible to the general public, notably in his book The Fabric of Reality.

His published work on quantum algorithms began with a ground-breaking 1985 paper,[5] later expanded in 1992 along with Richard Jozsa to produce the Deutsch–Jozsa algorithm, one of the first examples of a quantum algorithm that is exponentially faster than any possible deterministic classical algorithm.

He is currently working on constructor theory, an attempt at generalizing the quantum theory of computation to cover not just computation but all physical processes.[6][7]

Together with Chiara Marletto, he published a paper in December 2014 entitled Constructor theory of information, that conjectures that information can be expressed solely in terms of which transformations of physical systems are possible and which are impossible.[8]

The Fabric of Reality

Main article: The Fabric of Reality

In his 1997 book The Fabric of Reality, Deutsch details his "Theory of Everything." It aims not at the reduction of everything to particle physics, but rather mutual support among multiversal, computational, epistemological, and evolutionary principles. His theory of everything is somewhat emergentist rather than reductive.

There are "four strands" to his theory:

  1. Hugh Everett's many-worlds interpretation of quantum physics, "the first and most important of the four strands."
  2. Karl Popper's epistemology, especially its anti-inductivism and requiring a realist (non-instrumental) interpretation of scientific theories, as well as its emphasis on taking seriously those bold conjectures that resist falsification.
  3. Alan Turing's theory of computation, especially as developed in Deutsch's Turing principle, in which the Universal Turing machine is replaced by Deutsch's universal quantum computer. ("The theory of computation is now the quantum theory of computation.")
  4. Richard Dawkins's refinement of Darwinian evolutionary theory and the modern evolutionary synthesis, especially the ideas of replicator and meme as they integrate with Popperian problem-solving (the epistemological strand).

The Beginning of Infinity

Main article: The Beginning of Infinity

Deutsch’s second book, The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations that Transform the World, was published on 31 March 2011. In this book Deutsch views the Enlightenment of the 18th century as near the beginning of an unending sequence of purposeful knowledge creation. He examines the nature of memes and how and why creativity evolved in humans.

Views

Deutsch is an atheist.[9] He is also a founding member of the parenting and educational method known as Taking Children Seriously.[10]

He was awarded the Dirac Prize of the Institute of Physics in 1998,[11] and the Edge of Computation Science Prize in 2005.[12] The Fabric of Reality was shortlisted for the Rhone-Poulenc science book award in 1998.[13]

See also

Notes and references

  1. ^ a b Interview by Filiz Peach (published in Philosophy Now 30 December 2000)
  2. ^ a b Deutsch. "Deutsch, Prof. David Elieser". Who's Who. Vol. 2014 (April 2014 online ed.). A & C Black. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Unknown parameter |accessed= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |othernames= ignored (help) (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  3. ^ Deutsch, David (July 1985). "Quantum theory, the Church-Turing principle and the universal quantum computer" (PDF). Proceedings of the Royal Society A. 400 (1818): 97–117. Bibcode:1985RSPSA.400...97D. doi:10.1098/rspa.1985.0070. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 September 2003. Also available here. Abstract available here.
  4. ^ "New Fellows 08 Craik - Kaiser", The Royal Society. Also available here. Mirror link.
  5. ^ David Deutsch (1985). "Quantum Theory, the Church-Turing Principle and the Universal Quantum Computer" (PDF). Proceedings of the Royal Society of London A. 400: 97. Bibcode:1985RSPSA.400...97D. doi:10.1098/rspa.1985.0070.
  6. ^ Constructor Theory, A Conversation with David Deutsch, Interview at 'Edge' , 22 October 2012
  7. ^ Deutsch, D. and Marletto, C.; "Why we need to reconstruct the universe", New Scientist, 24 May 2014, Pages 30-31.
  8. ^ Constructor theory of information David Deutsch, Chiara Marletto Proc. R. Soc. A:2015471 20140540;DOI: 10.1098/rspa.2014.0540.Published 17 December 2014
  9. ^ David Deutsch entry, Celeb atheists website, 30 March 2005. Accessed Jan 2015
  10. ^ Friedman, Dawn (November–December 2003). "Taking Children Seriously - A new child-rearing movement believes parents should never coerce their kids". UTNE Reader. Utne Reader Editorial Office. Retrieved July 2014. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  11. ^ Dirac prize award
  12. ^ Edge of Computation Science Prize
  13. ^ Rhone-Poulenc 1998 shortlist
Wikiquote has quotations related to David Deutsch.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=David_Deutsch&oldid=724317935"