Stephen J. Wiesner (1942 – August 12, 2021) was an American-Israeli research physicist, inventor and construction laborer. As a graduate student at Columbia University in New York in the late 1960s and early 1970s, he discovered several of the most important ideas in

quantum information theory Quantum information is the information of the state of a quantum system. It is the basic entity of study in quantum information theory, and can be manipulated using quantum information processing techniques. Quantum information refers to both t ...

, including quantum money (which led to

quantum key distribution Quantum key distribution (QKD) is a secure communication method which implements a cryptographic protocol involving components of quantum mechanics. It enables two parties to produce a shared random secret key known only to them, which can then ...

), quantum multiplexing (the earliest example of oblivious transfer) and

superdense coding In quantum information theory, superdense coding (also referred to as ''dense coding'') is a quantum communication protocol to communicate a number of classical bits of information by only transmitting a smaller number of qubits, under the assu ...

(the first and most basic example of entanglement-assisted communication). Although this work remained unpublished for over a decade, it circulated widely enough in manuscript form to stimulate the emergence of

quantum information science Quantum information science is an interdisciplinary field that seeks to understand the analysis, processing, and transmission of information using quantum mechanics principles. It combines the study of Information science with quantum effects in p ...

in the 1980s and 1990s. Stephen Wiesner is the son of

Jerome Wiesner Jerome Bert Wiesner (May 30, 1915 – October 21, 1994) was a professor of electrical engineering, chosen by President John F. Kennedy as chairman of his Science Advisory Committee (PSAC). Educated at the University of Michigan, Wiesner was asso ...

and Laya Wiesner. He received his undergraduate degree from

Brandeis University , mottoeng = "Truth even unto its innermost parts" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = NECHE , president = Ronald D. Liebowitz , pr ...

. In 2006 he shared the Rank Prize in Optoelectronics with Charles H. Bennett, and

Gilles Brassard Gilles Brassard, is a faculty member of the Université de Montréal, where he has been a Full Professor since 1988 and Canada Research Chair since 2001. Education and early life Brassard received a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Cornell Unive ...

for quantum cryptography. In 2019, he received one of six

Micius Quantum Prize The Micius Quantum Prize is awarded every year since 2018 "for promoting the quantum information science and quantum technology, technology research". The recipients are awarded one million Renminbi, Chinese yuan (about 150,000 US dollars) and a g ...

s, along with Bennett, Brassard,

Artur Ekert Artur Konrad Ekert FRS (born 19 September 1961) is a Polish professor of quantum physics at the Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford, professorial fellow in quantum physics and cryptography at Merton College, Oxford, Lee Kong Chian Cen ...

Anton Zeilinger Anton Zeilinger (; born 20 May 1945) is an Austrian quantum physicist and Nobel laureate in physics of 2022. Zeilinger is professor of physics emeritus at the University of Vienna and senior scientist at the Institute for Quantum Optics and Qu ...

and Pan Jianwei for quantum communication. In the 1970’s, after leaving academia, he worked in many different Silicon Valley startups while also working on weekends at a fruits and vegetable distribution co-op. During this time he became interested in Judaism and in finding solutions for solar energy, clean energy and space migration. After moving to Israel, in addition to his religious study, Steve worked part time in construction and as a surveyor. He continued to work constantly on inventions, ideas and prototypes, mostly related to clean energy, sustainability and space travel. He remained affiliated with the Quantum Foundations & Information Group at

Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) ( he, אוּנִיבֶרְסִיטַת תֵּל אָבִיב, ''Universitat Tel Aviv'') is a public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Locate ...

References

Further reading