Seth Lloyd

Template:Short description Template:Use American English Template:Infobox scientist Seth Lloyd (born August 2, 1960) is an American quantum information scientist and professor in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Department of Mechanical Engineering.

He is known for work in quantum information science, including work on designs for a quantum computer, quantum analog computation, quantum analogs of Shannon's theorem, and methods for quantum error correction and noise reduction.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Biography

Lloyd was born on August 2, 1960. He graduated from Phillips Academy in 1978 and received a BA from Harvard College in 1982. He completed Part III and an MPhil from Cambridge University in 1983 and 1984 while on a Marshall Scholarship.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Lloyd completed a PhD in physics at Rockefeller University in 1988 advised by Heinz Pagels.

From 1988 to 1991, Lloyd was a postdoctoral researcher at Caltech working with Murray Gell-Mann on applications of information to quantum systems, and from 1991 to 1994 he was a postdoctoral researcher at Los Alamos National Laboratory working on quantum computation. In 1994 he joined the mechanical engineering department at MIT. Lloyd has also been an external faculty member at the Santa Fe Institute.

In 2007 he was named a Fellow of the American Physical Society.<ref name="aps">Template:Cite news</ref> In 2012 he was given the International Quantum Communication Award.<ref name="qcmc">Template:Cite news</ref>

Work

Lloyd directs the Center for Extreme Quantum Information Theory (xQIT) at MIT.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He has made several contributions to quantum information science, including a proposal for a digital quantum simulator,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> a framework for quantum metrology,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> a treatment of continuous-variable quantum information,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> dynamical decoupling as a method of quantum error mitigation,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and research on the possible relevance of quantum effects in biological phenomena, such as photosynthesis.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

With Aram Harrow and Avinatan Hassidim he introduced the HHL algorithm<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> for solving systems of linear equations, and later several quantum machine learning algorithms based on it.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> These algorithms were widely thought to give an exponential speedup relative to the best classical algorithms, until the discovery by Ewin Tang of classical algorithms achieving the same exponential speedup.<ref name="Tang18b">Template:Cite journal</ref>

In his 2006 book, Programming the Universe, Lloyd contends that the universe itself is a large quantum computer. According to Lloyd, once the laws of physics are understood completely, small-scale quantum computing can be used to understand the universe completely as well. He states that the whole universe could be simulated on a computer in 600 years provided that computational power increases according to Moore's Law.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Association with Jeffrey Epstein

Initial reports

During July 2019, reports surfaced that MIT and other institutions had accepted funding from convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In the ensuing scandal, Joi Ito, the director of the MIT Media Lab, resigned from MIT as a result of his association with Epstein.<ref name="factfindingmit">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Lloyd had been introduced to Epstein at the Edge Billionaires' Dinner in 2004 by his literary agent John Brockman, who had close connections to Epstein.<ref name="e415">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Brockman had also previously introduced Lloyd to Ito in February 2004.<ref name="l155">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Lloyd can be seen in a photo taken at a dinner at Harvard in 2004, which had been hosted by Epstein and included several Harvard and MIT faculty, including Alan Dershowitz, Stephen Pinker, Robert Trivers, Larry Summers, E.O. Wilson, Marvin Minsky, Lisa Randall, Martin Nowak, and Alan Guth, some of whom also had close connections with Epstein.<ref name="d632">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Further revelations and controversy

Lloyd's connections to Epstein drew substantial criticism, having acknowledged funding from Epstein in 19 papers,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> visiting Epstein's private island,<ref name="j369">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and visiting Epstein in prison after his first conviction.<ref name="letter">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Lloyd had been featured prominently in promotional materials distributed by Epstein, including photos posted to his blog of discussions between Epstein, Lloyd, and Harvard professor Martin Nowak, who had also accepted substantial funding from Epstein.<ref name="i718">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Lloyd was also featured prominently in the header photo for another blog maintained by Epstein and his foundation.<ref name="q472">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

On August 22, 2019, Lloyd published a letter apologizing for accepting grants totaling $225,000 from Epstein.<ref name="letter" /> The controversy at MIT continued despite this, including student protests demanding both Lloyd's and Reif's resignations.<ref name="tech-opinion1" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Lloyd also received backlash for discussing his relationship with Epstein during an undergraduate quantum computing course he taught.<ref name="j369" /><ref name="tech-opinion1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> At a forum held by the MIT administration in October 2019, students criticized MIT's decision to allow Lloyd to continue teaching.<ref name="t683">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> A student organization, MIT Students Against War, criticized Lloyd's purported framing of his relationship with Epstein as trying to rehabilitate a friend who had made a mistake.<ref name="c273">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Students also continued to staged in-person protests and demand Lloyd's resignation.<ref name="i113">Template:Cite tweet</ref>

MIT investigation

In January 2020, at the request of the MIT Corporation, the law firm Goodwin Procter issued a report<ref name="factfindingmit" /> on all of MIT's interactions with Epstein. The report determined Lloyd to have violated MIT norms by accepting a donation from Epstein into his personal bank account.<ref name="o879">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:Rp Moreover, after Epstein's first conviction, Lloyd accepted two donations of $50,000 which were sent by Epstein to test if MIT would still accept his donations despite his criminal conviction.<ref name="o879" />Template:Rp The report concluded that Lloyd "purposefully failed to inform MIT that Epstein, a convicted sex offender, was the source of the donations"<ref name="o879" />Template:Rp which were made to test MIT's vetting process, and took deliberate steps "to obscure the fact that Epstein was the donor and to hinder any possible due diligence or vetting by MIT."<ref name="o879" />Template:Rp As a result of the investigation, on January 10, 2020, Lloyd was placed on paid administrative leave.<ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Aftermath

Even after the publication of the report, Lloyd continued to deny that he misled MIT about the source of the funds he received from Epstein.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="e534">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In February 2020, Lloyd's secondary appointment in the MIT physics department was suspended.<ref name="t216">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Later, a committee of five senior MIT faculty and panel of MIT faculty were convened in order to determine what action MIT should take regarding Lloyd.<ref name="j992">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In December 2020, the panel concluded that Lloyd did not attempt to circumvent the MIT vetting process, and Lloyd was allowed to keep his tenured faculty position.<ref name="masslive">Template:Cite news</ref> However, a majority of the committee members concluded that Lloyd had violated MIT policy by not disclosing certain publicly known information about Epstein's background.<ref name="y829">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Lloyd was then subject to a series of disciplinary actions over the next 5 years, including limits on his ability to solicit donors and to advise students.<ref name="masslive" /><ref name="y829" /> Some students were still opposed to the administration's decision, seeing it as being too lenient on Lloyd.<ref name="b774">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Personal life

Lloyd's mother was Susan Lloyd, a history teacher at Phillips Andover.<ref name="marriage">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="x789">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> His maternal grandparents were Rustin McIntosh, a pediatrician, and Millicent Carey McIntosh, an educational administrator.<ref name="marriage" /> His father, Robert Lloyd, was an art teacher at Phillips Andover.<ref name="marriage" /><ref name="c901">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> His paternal grandparents were teachers of history and dance at Phillips Exeter.<ref name="c901" />

Selected publications

• Template:Cite thesis
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• Lloyd, S., Programming the Universe: A Quantum Computer Scientist Takes On the Cosmos, Knopf, March 14, 2006, 240 p., Template:ISBN
• Template:Cite book
• Movie: In 2022 Lloyd starred in the short film Steeplechase directed by Andrey Kezzyn,<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/{{#if:

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External links

• Google Scholar page
• Personal web page
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