The Physics of Computing

Introduction.- Computing with machines.- The physics of digital computing.- What is friction?.- The physics of small scale switches.- Fundamental energy limits in computation.- Storing data.- What about information?.- What about analog computing?.- Conclusion.


 

Professor Luca Gammaitoni presents 35 year-long research activities in a wide range of topics in different fields, having as a common denominator the physics of noise and fluctuations. He was awarded the 2016 Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics for the observation of gravitational waves. His papers have been cited more than 70.000 times.

He is a successful teacher ranked no.1 among the physicists in 2010, 2012, and 2013 at the University of Perugia. He has inspired more than one generation of students, being the advisor of 15 Tesi di laurea (Master Thesis) and 10 (Ph.D. Thesis) and serving as an expert for the EC (ICT-FET, MSCA, 2008-2020). He has established a world recognized  group in Perugia that in 2007 has officially become an institution: the Noise in Physical Systems Laboratory (NiPS) He has also started an International Summer School with regular courses each year (2010-2021). Moreover in 2007, he has started a high-tech spin-off company (Wisepower srl) devoted to micro-scale energy transformation devices. He has been active in promoting the communication of science in the last 20 years, with many magazine articles, national radio and TV interviews, a number of participation as organizer/guest to Science Festival, science cafè, public debates, and round tables (see youtube channel: nipslab).