Strange Paths

Resource category:

• Books and online lectures
• Fundamental papers
• Recent papers
• Scientists webpages
• Blogs
• Resource websites

Physicists

• Abhay Ashtekar. Physicist, born 1949. Introduced Ashtekar variables, basis of loop quantum gravity.
• Jacob Bekenstein. Physicist, born 1947. Formulated black hole thermodynamics, introduced the Bekenstein bound.
• David Deutsch. Physicist, born 1953. Founded theory of quantum computation.
• Murray Gell-Mann. Physicist, born 1929. 1969 Nobel prize in physics for contributions on theory of elementary particles. Introduced the quark model. Studied the weak interaction with Richard Feynman.
• Gerardus ‘t Hooft. Physicist, born 1946. 1999 Nobel prize in physics for elucidating the quantum structure of electroweak interaction. Proved renormalizability of gauge theories. Introduced the holographic principle.
• Andrei Linde. Physicist, cosmologist, born 1948. Theorized “slow roll” inflation and the inflationary multiverse.
• Carlo Rovelli. Physicist, born 1956. Founded loop quantum gravity, with Lee Smolin and Abhay Ashtekar.
• Edward Witten. Mathematical physicist, born 1951. Leading exponent of string theory, conjectured M-theory, made key contributions in topology and quantum field theory.
• Heinz-Dieter Zeh. Theoretical physicist. Introduced the many-minds interpretation of quantum mechanics. Contributed to theory of quantum decoherence.
• Wojciech Zurek. Physicist. Contributed to theory of quantum decoherence. Co-authored the no cloning theorem.

Mathematicians

• Alain Connes. Mathematician, born 1947. 1982 Field medal. Contributed to the theory of operators algebra and noncommutative geometry.

Computer scientists

• Charles H. Bennett. Computer scientist, born 1943. Theorized reversible computation and quantum teleportation. Developed the BB84 scheme for quantum cryptography.
• Gregory Chaitin. Computer scientist, born 1947. Founded algorithmic information theory.
• Tommaso Toffoli. Computer scientist. Introduced the Toffoli gate, fundamental logic primitive of quantum computation.