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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 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.
Shor graduated from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in 1981 with a B.S. in mathematics. He was a Putnam Fellow in 1978. He then did doctoral study in applied mathematics at MIT, receiving a Ph.D. in 1985. His doctoral advisor was F. Thomson Leighton, and his thesis was on probabilistic analysis of bin-packing algorithms.
"Later that week, I was able to solve the factoring problem as well. There’s a strange relation between discrete log and factoring."Both of these problems are examples of the 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 and the Gödel Prize in 1999. In 1999, he was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship. Peter W. Shor – Computer Science, Class of 1999, MacArthur Foundation In 2017, he received the Dirac Medal of the ICTP and for 2019 the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Basic Sciences. BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award 2019
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. He also is affiliated with CSAIL.
He received a Distinguished Alumni Award from Caltech in 2007.
On October 1, 2011, he was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was elected as an ACM Fellow in 2019 "for contributions to quantum-computing, information theory, and randomized algorithms". He was elected as a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 2002. In 2020, he was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering for pioneering contributions to quantum computation.
In an interview published in 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.
Along with three others, Shor was awarded the 2023 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics for "foundational work in the field of quantum information."
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Personal life
Through his father, S. W. Williston Shor, he is a descendant of Samuel Wendell Williston.
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Categories: American Theoretical Computer Scientists, 1959 Births, Living People, Macarthur Fellows, Fellows Of The Association For Computing Machinery, Fellows Of The American Mathematical Society, Members Of The United States National Academy Of Sciences, Gödel Prize Laureates, Nevanlinna Prize Laureates, Putnam Fellows, Scientists From California, California Institute Of Technology Alumni, Massachusetts Institute Of Technology School Of Science Alumni, Tamalpais High School Alumni, International Mathematical Olympiad Participants, 20th-century American Engineers, 21st-century American Engineers, 20th-century American Mathematicians, 21st-century American Mathematicians, 20th-century American Scientists, 21st-century American Scientists, American Quantum Information Scientists, Mit Center For Theoretical Physics Faculty
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