Quantum Pioneers
John Preskill
1953 · American · Theoretical Physics
Caltech physicist who coined the term 'quantum supremacy,' named the NISQ era, and wrote the field's most widely read graduate textbook.
Why they matter
Preskill has shaped how the entire field talks about itself. His terminology — 'quantum supremacy' (1012), 'NISQ' (2018) — defines the vocabulary of quantum computing discussions. His Caltech lecture notes on quantum computation are freely available online and remain the most widely cited graduate-level resource in the field. He also made important theoretical contributions to quantum error correction and topological quantum computation.
Key contributions
Coined 'Quantum Supremacy'
2012Introduced the term 'quantum supremacy' to describe the milestone at which a quantum computer outperforms any classical computer on some task — the term that defined a generation of quantum computing benchmarking.
Named the NISQ Era
2018Introduced 'NISQ' (Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum) as a term describing current-generation quantum devices — immediately adopted universally by the field.
Quantum Computing Lecture Notes
1997–presentHis freely available Caltech lecture notes on quantum computation and quantum information remain the most widely used graduate-level reference in the field.
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