# [[👤Scott Aaronson]] - [[Artificial Intelligence]] - [[👤Scott Aaronson]] *** Scott Aaronson is a prominent American theoretical computer scientist and professor known for his groundbreaking work in quantum computing and computational complexity theory. He currently holds the position of Schlumberger Centennial Chair of Computer Science at the University of Texas at Austin, where he also serves as the founding director of the Quantum Information Center[1][4]. Born on May 21, 1981, Aaronson showed an early aptitude for mathematics, teaching himself calculus at the age of 11[1]. He obtained his BSc in computer science from Cornell University in 2000 and went on to earn his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley in 2004 under the supervision of Umesh Vazirani[1]. Aaronson's research primarily focuses on the capabilities and limitations of quantum computers, as well as broader questions in computational complexity theory[1][4]. He has made significant contributions to the field, including work on quantum query complexity, the relationship between quantum computing and the polynomial hierarchy, and the foundations of quantum supremacy experiments[5]. Throughout his career, Aaronson has received numerous awards and honors for his work. These include the prestigious Alan T. Waterman Award from the National Science Foundation in 2012, the ACM Prize in Computing in 2020, and election as an ACM Fellow in 2019[1][5]. He is also known for his popular science writing and outreach efforts, including his blog "Shtetl-Optimized" and his book "Quantum Computing Since Democritus"[1][2]. Currently, Aaronson is on leave from UT Austin to work at OpenAI on the theoretical foundations of AI safety, demonstrating his ability to apply his expertise to cutting-edge problems in artificial intelligence[4][10]. Citations: [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Aaronson [2] https://scottaaronson.blog [3] https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-aaronson-829146251 [4] https://www.scottaaronson.com [5] https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=EYv2BNQAAAAJ [6] https://www.scottaaronson.com/vita.pdf [7] https://www.cs.utexas.edu/people/faculty-researchers/scott-aaronson [8] https://usea.org/profile/scott-aaronson [9] https://closertotruth.com/contributor/scott-aaronson/ [10] https://thetexasorator.com/2024/01/06/an-interview-with-dr-scott-aaronson/ [11] https://www.ciforecast.com/scott-aaronson-bio [12] https://www.simonsfoundation.org/people/scott-aaronson/