From 1988 to 1991, Lloyd was a postdoctoral researcher at Caltech working with Murray Gell-Mann on applications of information to quantum systems, and from 1991 to 1994 he was a postdoctoral researcher at Los Alamos National Laboratory working on quantum computation. In 1994 he joined the mechanical engineering department at MIT. Lloyd has also been an external faculty member at the Santa Fe Institute.
In 2007 he was named a Fellow of the American Physical Society.[3] In 2012 he was given the International Quantum Communication Award.[4]
With Aram Harrow and Avinatan Hassidim he introduced the HHL algorithm[12] for solving systems of linear equations, and later several quantum machine learning algorithms based on it.[13][14] These algorithms were widely thought to give an exponential speedup relative to the best classical algorithms, until the discovery by Ewin Tang of classical algorithms achieving the same exponential speedup.[15]
In his 2006 book, Programming the Universe, Lloyd contends that the universe itself is a large quantum computer. According to Lloyd, once the laws of physics are understood completely, small-scale quantum computing can be used to understand the universe completely as well. He states that the whole universe could be simulated on a computer in 600 years provided that computational power increases according to Moore's Law.[16]
Association with Jeffrey Epstein
Initial reports
During July 2019, reports surfaced that MIT and other institutions had accepted funding from convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.[17] In the ensuing scandal, Joi Ito, the director of the MIT Media Lab, resigned from MIT as a result of his association with Epstein.[18][19] Lloyd had been introduced to Epstein at the Edge Billionaires' Dinner in 2004 by his literary agent John Brockman, who had close connections to Epstein.[20] Brockman had also previously introduced Lloyd to Ito in February 2004.[21] Lloyd can be seen in a photo taken at a dinner at Harvard in 2004, which had been hosten by Epstein and mainly included Harvard faculty.[22]
Further revelations and controversy
Lloyd's connections to Epstein drew substantial criticism, having acknowledged funding from Epstein in 19 papers,[23] visiting Epstein's private island,[24] and visiting Epstein in prison after his first conviction.[25] Lloyd had been featured prominently in promotional materials distributed by Epstein, including photos posted to his blog of discussions between Epstein, Lloyd, and Harvard professor Martin Nowak, who had also accepted substantial funding from Epstein. [26] Lloyd was also featured prominently in the header photo for another blog maintained by Epstein and his foundation. [27]
On August 22, 2019, Lloyd published a letter apologizing for accepting grants totaling $225,000 from Epstein.[25] The controversy at MIT continued despite this, including student protests demanding both Lloyd's and Reif's resignations.[28][29][30]
Lloyd also received backlash for discussing his relationship with Epstein during an undergraduate quantum computing course he taught.[24][28]
At a forum held by the MIT administration in October 2019, students criticized MIT's decision to allow Lloyd to continue teaching.[31] A student organization, MIT Students Against War, criticized Lloyd's purported framing of his relationship with Epstein as trying to rehabilitate a friend who had made a mistake.[32] Students also continued to staged in-person protests and demand Lloyd's resignation.[33]
MIT investigation
In January 2020, at the request of the MIT Corporation, the law firm Goodwin Procter issued a report[18] on all of MIT's interactions with Epstein. The report determined Lloyd to have violated MIT norms by accepting a donation from Epstein into his personal bank account.[34]: 12 Moreover, after Epstein's first conviction, Lloyd accepted two donations of $50,000 which were sent by Epstein to test if MIT would still accept his donations despite his criminal conviction.[34]: 13
The report concluded that Lloyd "purposefully failed to inform MIT that Epstein, a convicted sex offender, was the source of the donations"[34]: 5 which were made to test MIT's vetting process, and took deliberate steps "to obscure the fact that Epstein was the donor and to hinder any possible due diligence or vetting by MIT."[34]: 20 As a result of the investigation, on January 10, 2020, Lloyd was placed on paid administrative leave.[35]
Aftermath
Even after the publication of the report, Lloyd continued to deny that he misled MIT about the source of the funds he received from Epstein.[36][37] In February 2020, Lloyd's secondary appointment in the MIT physics department was suspended.[38] Later, a committee of five senior MIT faculty and panel of MIT faculty were convened in order to determine what action MIT should take regarding Lloyd.[39]
In December 2020, the panel concluded that Lloyd did not attempt to circumvent the MIT vetting process, and Lloyd was allowed to keep his tenured faculty position.[40] However, a majority of the committee members concluded that Lloyd had violated MIT policy by not disclosing certain publicly known information about Epstein's background.[41] Lloyd was then subject to a series of disciplinary actions over the next 5 years, including limits on his ability to solicit donors and to advise students.[40][41] Some students were still opposed to the administrations decision, seeing it as being too lenient on Lloyd.[42]
Personal life
Lloyd's mother was Susan Lloyd, a history teacher at Phillips Andover.[43][44] His maternal grandparents were Rustin McIntosh, a pediatrician, and Millicent Carey McIntosh, an educational administrator.[43] His father, Robert Lloyd, was an art teacher at Phillips Andover [43][45] His paternal grandparents were teachers of history and dance at Phillips Exeter.[45]
^Lloyd, Seth (20 October 2002). "THE COMPUTATIONAL UNIVERSE". Edge.org. Edge Foundation. Retrieved 7 October 2020. 'Every physical system registers information, and just by evolving in time, by doing its thing, it changes that information ...'
