Editing Peter Shor

{{short description|American mathematician}}
{{distinguish|text=the British politician [[Peter Shore]]}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2022}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Peter Shor
| image             = Peter Shor 2017 Dirac Medal Award Ceremony.png
| caption           = Shor in 2017
| birth_date        = {{Birth date and age|1959|8|14|mf=y}}
| birth_place       = [[New York City]], [[New York (state)|New York]], U.S.
| field             = [[Computer science]], [[applied mathematics]]
| work_institution  = {{plainlist|
*Massachusetts Institute of Technology
*[[Bell Labs]]
*[[University of California, Berkeley]]
}}
| education         = [[California Institute of Technology]] ([[Bachelor of Science|BS]])<br />[[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] ([[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]])
| thesis_title      = Random planar matching and bin packing
| thesis_year       = 1985
| thesis_url        = http://www-math.mit.edu/~shor/thesis/
| doctoral_advisor  = [[F. Thomson Leighton|Tom Leighton]]
| doctoral_students = {{plainlist|1=
*[[Ramis Movassagh]]
}}
| prizes            = {{plainlist|
*[[Putnam Fellow]] (1978)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.maa.org/awards/putnam.html |title=The Mathematical Association of America's William Lowell Putnam Competition |access-date=February 12, 2007 |publisher=[[Mathematical Association of America]] }}</ref>
*[[Nevanlinna Prize]] (1998)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mathunion.org/o/General/Prizes/Nevanlinna/1998/|title=Fields Medalists / Nevanlinna Price (sic) Winner 1998|access-date=September 26, 2010|publisher=[[International Mathematical Union]]|date=August 22, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303192134/http://www.mathunion.org/o/General/Prizes/Nevanlinna/1998/|archive-date=March 3, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>
*[[MacArthur Fellowship]] (July&nbsp;1999)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.macfound.org/site/c.lkLXJ8MQKrH/b.1142725/k.2948/Fellows_List__July_1999.htm |title=Fellows List – July 1999 |access-date=February 12, 2007 |publisher=[[John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060928193615/http://www.macfound.org/site/c.lkLXJ8MQKrH/b.1142725/k.2948/Fellows_List__July_1999.htm |archive-date=September 28, 2006 }}</ref>
*[[Gödel Prize]] (1999)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://sigact.acm.org/Prizes/godel/1999.html |title=1999 Gödel Prize |access-date=February 12, 2007 |last=Parberry |first=Ian |date= May 10, 1999 |publisher=[[ACM SIGACT]]}}</ref>
*[[King Faisal International Prize]] (2002)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kff.com/AR01/KFIP/1422H2002G/KFIPWinners5SCI1422H2002G.html |title=2002 King Faisal International Prizes for Science Announced|publisher=[[King Faisal Foundation]]}}</ref>
*ICS Prize (2007)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.informs.org/Community/ICS/Prizes/ICS-Prize|title=ICS Prize|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306024932/https://www.informs.org/Community/ICS/Prizes/ICS-Prize|archive-date=March 6, 2016}}</ref>
*[[Dirac Medal (ICTP)|Dirac Medal]] (2017) of ICTP<ref>[https://www.ictp.it/about-ictp/prizes-awards/the-dirac-medal/the-medallists/dirac-medallists-2017.aspx Dirac Medal of ICTP 2017]</ref>
*[[Micius Quantum Prize]] (2018)
*[[IEEE Eric E. Sumner Award]] (2018)<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20180713075400/https://www.ieee.org/about/awards/bios/sumner-recipients.html List of IEEE Eric E. Sumner Award Recipients]</ref> <br/>[[BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award]] (2019)
* [[Lise Meitner Distinguished Lecture]] and Medal, (2022)
*[[Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics]] (2023)<ref name=mit-news-breakthrough>{{cite news |last=Chu |first=Jennifer |date=September 22, 2022 |title=Peter Shor wins Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics |url=https://news.mit.edu/2022/shor-spielman-breakthrough-prize-0922 |work=MIT News |access-date=September 23, 2022}}</ref>
*[[Claude E. Shannon Award]] (2025)
}}
| known_for         = [[Shor's algorithm]]<br />[[Shor code]]<br/>[[CSS code]]<br>[[SMAWK algorithm]]<br>[[Stabilizer code]]<br>[[Quantum threshold theorem]]
}}
'''Peter Williston Shor''' (born August 14, 1959) is an American [[theoretical computer scientist]] known for his work on [[quantum computation]], in particular for devising [[Shor's algorithm]], a quantum algorithm for [[Integer factorization|factoring]] exponentially faster than the best currently-known algorithm running on a classical computer. He has been a professor of [[applied mathematics]] at the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] (MIT) since 2003. 

==Early life and education ==
Shor was born on August 14, 1959, in [[New York City]], to Joan Bopp Shor and S. W. Williston Shor.<ref name="legacy.com">[https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/marinij/name/joan-shor-obituary?id=8877491 Joan Shor Obituary].</ref><ref>'[https://www.ancestry.com/name-origin?surname=shor], Shor Family History</ref> He grew up in [[Washington, D.C.]] and [[Mill Valley, California]].<ref name="legacy.com"/> While attending [[Tamalpais High School]], he placed third in the 1977 [[USA Mathematical Olympiad]].<ref>[https://www.amazon.com/dp/0883856344/ Murray Klamkin (Editor). Mathematical Association of America (January 1989). ''USA Mathematical Olympiads 1972–1986 Problems and Solutions'' (Anneli Lax New Mathematical Library)], {{isbn|0-88385-634-4}}
{{isbn|978-0-88385-634-5}}, accessed May 10, 2007</ref> After graduation that year, he won a silver medal at the [[International Math Olympiad]] in [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]] (the U.S. team achieved the most points per country that year).<ref>[http://www.millvalleyhistoricalsociety.org/history-of-homestead-valley-2004.html Mill Valley Historical Society, 2004, 'History of Homestead Valley'] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060821060150/http://www.millvalleyhistoricalsociety.org/history-of-homestead-valley-2004.html |date=August 21, 2006 }}</ref><ref>[http://www.maa.org/pubs/mar04.pdf Stephen R. Dunbar, 'Identifying Talent: American Mathematics Competitions,' in Mathematical Association of America, Focus, Vol 24, Issue 3, March 2004, p 29]</ref> 

Shor graduated from the [[California Institute of Technology]] (Caltech) in 1981 with a [[Bachelor of Science|B.S.]] in mathematics.<ref name=Caltech>{{cite web|url=http://alumni.caltech.edu/distinguished_alumni/by_year?year=2007|title=2007 Recipients|work=Distinguished Alumni Award|publisher=Caltech Alumni Association|access-date=April 22, 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716194044/http://alumni.caltech.edu/distinguished_alumni/by_year?year=2007|archive-date=July 16, 2011}}</ref> He was a [[Putnam Fellow]] in 1978. He then did doctoral study in applied mathematics at MIT, receiving a Ph.D. in 1985.<ref>{{cite thesis |last=Shor |first=Peter Williston |url=http://math.mit.edu/~shor/thesis/ |title=Random Planar Matching and Bin Packing |type=Ph.D. thesis |publisher=MIT |date=September 1985 |oclc=14107348}}</ref> His doctoral advisor was [[F. Thomson Leighton]], and his thesis was on probabilistic analysis of [[Bin packing problem|bin-packing]] algorithms.

== Career ==
After being awarded his PhD by MIT, he spent one year as a [[postdoctoral researcher]] at the [[University of California, Berkeley]], and then accepted a position at [[Bell Laboratories|Bell Labs]] in [[New Providence, New Jersey]]. It was there he developed [[Shor's algorithm]]. This development was inspired by [[Simon's problem]]. Shor first found an efficient quantum algorithm for the [[Discrete_logarithm|discrete log problem]] (which relates point-finding on a hypercube to a torus) and,<blockquote>"Later that week, I was able to solve the factoring problem as well. There’s a strange relation between discrete log and factoring."<ref>{{Cite arXiv |last=Shor |first=Peter W. |date=2022-08-21 |title=The Early Days of Quantum Computation |class=quant-ph |eprint=2208.09964}}</ref></blockquote>Both of these problems are examples of the [[Hidden subgroup problem|HSP]]. For his work discovering the efficient quantum algorithms for factoring and discrete logarithm  he was awarded the [[Nevanlinna Prize]] at the 23rd [[International Congress of Mathematicians]] in 1998<ref>{{cite journal|author=Jackson, Allyn|title=Peter Shor Receives Nevanlinna Prize|journal=Notices of the AMS|date=November 1998|page=1361|url=https://www.ams.org/notices/199810/comm-nevanlinna.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Shor, Peter|chapter=Quantum computing|title=Doc. Math. (Bielefeld) Extra Vol. ICM Berlin, 1998, vol. I|year=1998|pages=467–486|chapter-url=https://www.elibm.org/ft/10011733000}}</ref> and the [[Gödel Prize]] in 1999.<ref>{{cite web|author=Parberry, Ian|title=1999 Gödel Prize — Peter W. Shor|website=sigact.org|date=May 10, 1999|url=https://www.sigact.org/prizes/gödel/1999.html}}</ref> In 1999, he was awarded a [[MacArthur Fellowship]].<ref>[https://www.macfound.org/fellows/623/ Peter W. Shor – Computer Science, Class of 1999], [[MacArthur Foundation]]</ref> In 2017, he received the [[Dirac Medal (ICTP)|Dirac Medal of the ICTP]] and for 2019 the [[BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award]] in Basic Sciences.<ref>[https://www.frontiersofknowledgeawards-fbbva.es/ BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award 2019]</ref>

Shor began his [[MIT]] position in 2003. Currently, he is the Henry Adams Morss and Henry Adams Morss, Jr. Professor of Applied Mathematics in the Department of Mathematics at MIT.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://catalog.mit.edu/schools/science/mathematics/#facultystafftext|title=Department of Mathematics Faculty and Teaching Staff|work=Catalog|publisher=MIT|access-date=2024-05-19}}</ref> He also is affiliated with [[CSAIL]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.csail.mit.edu/person/peter-shor|title=Peter Shor|work=People|publisher=MIT CSAIL|access-date=2024-05-19}}</ref>

He received a Distinguished Alumni Award from Caltech in 2007.<ref name=Caltech/>

On October 1, 2011, he was inducted into the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Academy Members: 1780–present|year=2011|publisher=American Academy of Arts & Sciences|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|pages=502|url=http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterS.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.amacad.org/news/alphalist2011.pdf|title=2011 Members and Their Affiliations|publisher=American Academy of Arts & Sciences|access-date=October 17, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120319172054/http://www.amacad.org/news/alphalist2011.pdf|archive-date=March 19, 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref> He was elected as an [[ACM Fellow]] in 2019 "for contributions to quantum-computing, information theory, and randomized algorithms".<ref>{{citation|url=https://www.acm.org/media-center/2019/december/fellows-2019|title=2019 ACM Fellows Recognized for Far-Reaching Accomplishments that Define the Digital Age|publisher=Association for Computing Machinery|access-date=December 11, 2019}}</ref> He was elected as a member of the [[National Academy of Sciences]] in 2002.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Peter Shor|url=http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/members/20002167.html|access-date=March 28, 2021|website=www.nasonline.org}}</ref> In 2020, he was elected a member of the [[National Academy of Engineering]] for pioneering contributions to quantum computation.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Dr. Peter W. Shor|url=https://nae.edu/224647/Dr-Peter-W-Shor|access-date=September 9, 2021|website=NAE Website}}</ref>

In an interview published in ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]'' on October 30, 2020, Shor said that he considers [[post-quantum cryptography]] to be a solution to the quantum threat, although a lot of engineering effort is required to switch from vulnerable algorithms.<ref>{{cite journal | doi=10.1038/d41586-020-03068-9 | title=Quantum-computing pioneer warns of complacency over Internet security | year=2020 | last1=Castelvecchi | first1=Davide | journal=Nature | volume=587 | issue=7833 | page=189 | pmid=33139910 | bibcode=2020Natur.587..189C | s2cid=226243008 }}</ref>

Along with three others, Shor was awarded the 2023 [[Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics]] for "foundational work in the field of quantum information."<ref name=mit-news-breakthrough />

==See also==
*[[Entanglement-assisted classical capacity]]
*[[Keller's conjecture]]
*[[Stabilizer code]]
*[[Quantum capacity]]

== Notes ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
*{{DBLP |name=Peter W. Shor}}.
*[http://www-math.mit.edu/~shor/ Peter Shor's Home Page at MIT].
*[https://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/usr/copetas/www/public/pr/nov5-99.html Quantum Computing Expert Peter Shor Receives Carnegie Mellon's 1998 Dickson Prize in Science].
*{{MathGenealogy |name=Peter Williston Shor}}
*{{IMO results |id=20 }}
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qD9XElTpCE The story of Shor's algorithm — Youtube].

'''Lectures and panels'''
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20091027215540/http://www.q2cfestival.com/play.php?lecture_id=7757 Video of "Harnessing Quantum Physics", Peter Shor's panel discussion] with [[Ignacio Cirac]], [[Michele Mosca]], [[Avi Wigderson]], [[Daniel Gottesman]] and [[Dorit Aharonov]], at the Quantum to Cosmos festival

{{Nevanlinna Prize winners}}
{{Gödel winners}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shor, Peter}}
[[Category:American theoretical computer scientists]]
[[Category:1959 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:MacArthur Fellows]]
[[Category:2019 fellows of the Association for Computing Machinery]]
[[Category:Fellows of the American Mathematical Society]]
[[Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Gödel Prize laureates]]
[[Category:Nevanlinna Prize laureates]]
[[Category:Putnam Fellows]]
[[Category:Scientists from California]]
[[Category:California Institute of Technology alumni]]
[[Category:Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science alumni]]
[[Category:Tamalpais High School alumni]]
[[Category:International Mathematical Olympiad participants]]
[[Category:20th-century American engineers]]
[[Category:21st-century American engineers]]
[[Category:20th-century American mathematicians]]
[[Category:21st-century American mathematicians]]
[[Category:20th-century American scientists]]
[[Category:21st-century American scientists]]
[[Category:American quantum information scientists]]
[[Category:MIT Center for Theoretical Physics faculty]]