Women in Math and Science

In honor of Larry Summers’ return to the media spotlight, I thought I’d take a moment to recognize the women in math and science whom I look up to.

One of the biggest names in my own field, quantum computation, is Julia Kempe.  At age 34, she has degrees in math (bachelors, masters, PhD), physics (bachelors, masters) and computer science (PhD).  Yeah, she has two PhDs.  She also has in impressive list of publications, including two hugely important results.  Along with co-authors, she showed that building a quantum computer requires being able to interact at most 3 "quantum bits" at a time.  She also showed that two types of quantum computers, circuit-based and adiabatic, were equally powerful.

In other fields, I have a lot of admiration for Nora Volkow and Alison Jolly.  Nora Volkow is the director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse.  She has pioneered the use of brain imaging techniques in understanding addiction, and has done a lot bring her results to the attention of the general public.  Alison Jolly is a primatologist, and author of Lucy’s Legacy , one of the best popular science books I’ve ever read.

So who are your favorites?