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person1974–

Michael Nielsen

Disciplines:
computer science/quantum computing
writing
cognitive science/cognitive tools
science/open science

Summary

Australian scientist and writer — co-author of Quantum Computation and Quantum Information (the standard textbook) — author of Reinventing Discovery (on open science) and Neural Networks and Deep Learning (free online textbook) — who left academia to write about the future of science.

Core Contribution

Creates the standard quantum computing textbook — Nielsen and Chuang's Quantum Computation and Quantum Information has been cited over 40,000 times and trained the entire first generation of quantum computing researchers.

Key Spikes & Highlights

  • Left a tenured-track academic career and dropped off the academic radar for years to write Reinventing Discovery — the book argues that science's collaborative tools are primitive relative to other knowledge fields; his willingness to bet his career on the project was unusual for someone with an elite academic platform

Notable Works & Achievements

Quantum Computation and Quantum Information

Reinventing Discovery

Neural Networks and Deep Learning

Historical Influences

Richard Feynman Douglas Hofstadter Michael Faraday

Intellectual Lineage

Brisbane, AustraliaUniversity of QueenslandUniversity of New Mexico Y Combinator ResearchQuantum Country

Contemporaries & Peers

Isaac ChuangAndy Matuschak Scott Aaronson

Minds Influenced

Quantum computing education

Intellectual Posterity

Nielsen and ChuangReinventing Discovery Quantum Country

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Michael Nielsen

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