Physicist Michelle Simmons pushing the world into the quantum computer age

Michelle Simmons is leading the transition from the digital to the quantum age, and putting Australia at the forefront of information processing.

Michelle Simmons is leading the transition from the digital to the quantum age, and putting Australia at the forefront of information processing.

“I’ve always believed Australia can compete on a global stage,” the University of NSW professor said. “I’m very much of the view that whatever we do has to be world-leading.”

Professor Simmons’ innovative discoveries earned her a nomination for The Australian’s Australian of the Year.

She was awarded the 2023 Prime Minister’s Prize for Science – Australia’s most prestigious award for outstanding achievements in scientific research, innovation and teaching – for creating the new field of atomic electronics.

Professor Simmons’ discoveries will lead a new generation of quantum computing, which will affect almost every industry dependent on data.

“People are excited about making improved energy density batteries, which is useful for the transition to renewable energies,” she said. “There is also the ability to build different catalysts for a more efficient production of fertilisers, thereby producing less CO2.

“Then there is being able to understand how drugs interact with the human body, as we can simulate those drugs directly, which is very difficult with a classical computer.

“Machine learning and AI applications is an area we are going to focus on first in the company.”

In 2019, Professor Simmons founded the world’s first quantum computing company, Silicon Quantum Computing.

She is also the director of The ARC Centre for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology.

“We basically pioneered atomic scale manufacturing here in Australia,” she said. “It allows us to make the most precise devices with the highest quality.

“Now we want to build the whole processor. This is a technological lead that Australia currently has. We hold all the key patents and we know how to do it.”

Quantum computing uses the principles of quantum physics and applies it to technology to solve complex problems in a few minutes, which would take a classical computer thousands of years. It is an entirely new way of computing, Professor Simmons said.

“If you imagine that you’re sitting in the middle of the Earth pointing at the North Pole, and that’s your digital one and the South Pole is your digital zero, that’s all the digital world uses,” she said.

“But the quantum world uses everything in between, which basically allows you to access more information faster than you could in the digital world.”

Professor Simmons said these kinds of groundbreaking discoveries were always a team effort.

“I think if you’re trying to do something ambitious, then an individual can only do so much by themselves,” she said.

“Having a team of people with different expertise working towards a common goal, a goal that is exciting and ambitious, it’s just the best thing ever.”

She joins an impressive alumni of previous Prime Minister’s Prize for Science winners, including Professor Frank Fenner who eradicated smallpox, Professor Graeme Clark whose discoveries led to the bionic ear, and Professor Edward C. Holmes, who played a transformative role in the response to Covid-19.

We encourage our readers to put in a nomination for The Australian’s Australian of the Year, which was first won in 1971 by economist HC “Nugget” Coombs. Prominent Australians can be nominated by filling out the form above, or sending an email to [e-mail]. Nominations close on Friday, January 19.