Francesco Petruccione serves as Professor of Quantum Computing and Director of the National Institute for Theoretical and Computational Sciences (NITheCS) at Stellenbosch University.
He was born in Genova, Italy, and began his journey in the field of physics at the University of Freiburg, where he received both his PhD and “Habilitation” degree.
Following his academic training, Francesco held various positions at the University of Freiburg until his promotion to adjunct Professor in 2001. His pursuit of quantum physics led him to South Africa, where he was appointed Professor of Theoretical Physics at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) in 2004. Recognising his contribution to the field, he was granted the South African Research Chair for Quantum Information Processing and Communication in 2007.
At UKZN, Francesco also served as the Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Big Data and Informatics and he still holds a fractional Professorship at the university. In 2020, he was tasked to set up the National Institute for Theoretical and Computation Sciences, serving as its interim Director until he was appointed director in 2024.
Francesco is an elected member of various prestigious scientific societies, including the Academy of Sciences of South Africa, the Royal Society of South Africa, and the African Academy of Sciences. He has published around 250 papers in refereed scientific journals and has co-authored significant texts on quantum systems and machine learning with quantum computers.