Abstract:

In recent years, the scientific world has seen much excitement over the development of quantum computing, and the ever increasing possibility of building real quantum computers. What is the advantage of quantum computing? What are the secrets in the atoms that could potentially unleash such enormous power, to be used for computing and information processing? In this talk, we will take a look at quantum computing, and make the case that we are witnessing a great science in the making.

About the Speaker:

Professor Yao was born in Shanghai, China. He received a BS in Physics from National Taiwan University , a PhD in Physics from Harvard University , and a PhD in Computer Science from University of Illinois. His research interests include analysis of algorithms, computational complexity, cryptography and quantum computing. From

1975 onward, Professor Yao served on the faculty at MIT, Stanford, UC Berkeley, and during 1986 - 2004, as William and Edna Macaleer Professor of Engineering and Applied Science at Princeton University. In 2004, he left Princeton to become a Professor of Computer Science at Tsinghua Univeristy in Beijing . He is also a Distinguished Professor-at-Large at the Chinese University of Hong Kong .

Professor Yao was recipient of the prestigious A.M. Turing Award in year 2000 for his contributions to the theory of computation, including communication complexity, pseudorandom number generation, and quantum communication. He has received numerous other honors and awards, including the George Polya Prize, the Donald E. Knuth Prize, and several honorary degrees. He is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.