Charles H. Bennett

Title : How ideas from physics have enriched theoretical computer science theory and what it has given back

Abstract: The information revolution got started in the mid 20th century when Turing, Shannon, and von Neumann boldly reconceptualized the processing of information as independent from its physical embodiment. In subsequent decades, informatics matured by adopting ideas from thermodynamics and quantum mechanics that physicists had mistakenly thought belonged solely to their field. Aside from its practical applications, this enlarged theory has a beauty accessible to nonspecialists and potential implications as far afield as cosmology and ethics.

As part of the Gilles Brassard Symposium.

Room: Campus MIL A-5502.1