World's Best Scientists 2026 revealed!

D-Index & Metrics

Computer Science

D-Index
50
Citations
13782
World Ranking
5510
National Ranking
2515

Research.com Recognitions

  • 2019 - ACM Fellow For contributions to quantum computing and computational complexity
  • 2012 - National Science Foundation Alan T. Waterman Award Computer Science
  • 2009 - Fellow of Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

Overview

Scott Aaronson is affiliated with The University of Texas at Austin in the United States. Their research primarily focuses on computer science, with a significant emphasis on artificial intelligence, computational theory and mathematics, and neurology. Other subfields of study include atomic and molecular physics, optics, as well as anesthesiology and pain medicine.

Their main topics of work cover a range of areas within quantum computing and theoretical computer science. These include:

  • Quantum Computing Algorithms and Architecture
  • Computability, Logic, AI Algorithms
  • Quantum Information and Cryptography
  • Quantum Mechanics and Applications
  • Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Studies
  • Pain Management and Treatment
  • Complexity and Algorithms in Graphs

They have contributed to several papers, notable among them:

  • Quantum Simultaneous Protocols Without Public Coins Using Modified Equality Queries, 2025, Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (Schloss Dagstuhl)
  • Certified randomness using a trapped-ion quantum processor, 2025, Nature
  • On the Quantum Complexity of Closest Pair and Related Problems, 2020, Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (Schloss Dagstuhl)
  • (Untitled), 2020, Theory of Computing
  • A very preliminary analysis of DALL-E 2, 2022, arXiv (Cornell University)

Scott Aaronson frequently publishes in venues such as:

  • arXiv (Cornell University)
  • Brain Stimulation
  • Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (Schloss Dagstuhl)
  • Biological Psychiatry
  • Nature

Their frequent collaborators include Linda L. Carpenter, Harold A. Sackeïm, Todd M. Hutton, Kenneth Pages, and Emre Yolcu.

Among the distinctions received, Scott Aaronson was named an ACM Fellow in 2019 for contributions related to quantum computing and computational complexity. They also received the National Science Foundation Alan T. Waterman Award in 2012 for work in computer science, in addition to being recognized as a Fellow of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation in 2009.

Best Publications

  • Improved simulation of stabilizer circuits

    Scott Aaronson;Daniel Gottesman

  • The Computational Complexity of Linear Optics

    Scott Aaronson;Alex Arkhipov

  • Photonic Boson Sampling in a Tunable Circuit

    Matthew A. Broome;Alessandro Fedrizzi;Saleh Rahimi-Keshari;Justin Dove

  • Read the fine print

    Scott Aaronson

  • Quantum Search of Spatial Regions

    Scott Aaronson;Andris Ambainis

  • Quantum Computing Since Democritus

    Scott Aaronson

  • Guest Column: NP-complete problems and physical reality

    Scott Aaronson

  • Quantum Computing, Postselection, and Probabilistic Polynomial-Time

    Scott Aaronson

  • Quantum lower bounds for the collision and the element distinctness problems

    Scott Aaronson;Yaoyun Shi

  • Shadow Tomography of Quantum States

    Scott Aaronson

  • Algebrization: A New Barrier in Complexity Theory

    Scott Aaronson;Avi Wigderson

  • Synthetic recombinase-based state machines in living cells

    Nathaniel Roquet;Ava P. Soleimany;Alyssa C. Ferris;Scott Aaronson

  • BQP and the polynomial hierarchy

    Scott Aaronson

  • Complexity-theoretic foundations of quantum supremacy experiments

    Scott Aaronson;Lijie Chen

  • Quantum Copy-Protection and Quantum Money

    Scott Aaronson

  • NP-complete Problems and Physical Reality

    Scott Aaronson

  • The limits of quantum computers.

    Scott Aaronson

  • Limitations of Quantum Advice and One-Way Communication

    Scott Aaronson

  • Why Philosophers Should Care About Computational Complexity.

    Scott Aaronson

  • The learnability of quantum states

    Scott Aaronson

Frequent Co-Authors

Andris Ambainis
Andris Ambainis University of Latvia
Sarah H. Lisanby
Sarah H. Lisanby Arizona State University
Mark S. George
Mark S. George Medical University of South Carolina
Noah S. Philip
Noah S. Philip Brown University
Donel Martin
Donel Martin University of New South Wales
Shawn M. McClintock
Shawn M. McClintock The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Timothy C. Ralph
Timothy C. Ralph University of Queensland
Ian A. Cook
Ian A. Cook University of California, Los Angeles
Michael E. Thase
Michael E. Thase University of Pennsylvania

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