Raymond was born in Quebec city and graduated from Université Laval. He then moved to Cambridge to do a PhD under Stephen Hawking. One of Raymond’s proudest moment was convincing Professor Stephen Hawking to change his mind on the result of a project on the arrow of time. A feat that earn him a quote in the Hawking’s book A Brief History of Time. In Raymond’s words, “It took time to convince Stephen Hawking that his suggestion on the arrow of time was incorrect, but once he understood my argument, he was very gracious about it. It showed me that, as a scientist, no matter who tells you something, you have an obligation to work things out yourself. Only then is it possible to understand them. It’s good to have hunches and guesses to solve a problem, but it is critical to follow the math, and not just jump to conclusions.”
Raymond moved to Los Alamos National Laboratory where he learned about quantum computing. His first thoughts were doubting that it could exist. “I went to a conference in Santa Fe in 1994 where a highly respected computer scientist gave a talk on the possibilities of quantum computers. I came back determined to show that quantum computers would never exist. I believed they would be too susceptible to interference and random noise. I got scooped by a colleague on that, but then I turned the quest around. I tried to show that something could be done to make them resistant to noise. That’s how I stumbled into the field of quantum error correction.” With his colleague Manny Knill, Professor Laflamme would lay down the mathematical foundation for quantum error correction codes. With colleagues Miquel, Paz and Zurek, he discovered the most compact quantum error code to correct quantum errors.
The quantum bit, or Q-bit, can hold multiple states at once, storing more information than a comparable computer bit. This power could easily overcome the current best standards of cyber-encryption, while also potentially offering new and better ways of protecting data. It could revolutionize data processing and optimization, with impacts that could be felt in chemistry, medicine, artificial simulations, cryptography, and more.
Raymond was attracted back to Canada by the President of the University at the time David Johnston and Mike Lazaridis. Raymond would go on to co-found the Institute of Quantum Computing and to serve as the Inaugural Director from 2002 to 2017. He was instrumental in gathering together the community of over 200 researchers in the field, and for years the institute held the world record for most quantum bits manipulated within a prototype quantum computer. He lead the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research program on Quantum Information Science for 14 years and the NSERC pan-Canadian network QuantumWorks. For these and his contributions to quantum error correction, and many other accomplishments, he was awarded the Order of Canada.
In addition to serving as a Canada Research Chair in Quantum Computing, Mike and Ophelia Lazaridis “John von Neumann” Chair in Quantum Information, Raymond is a leading thinker in the field. He studies how to control quantum systems, how to implement algorithms on quantum computers and doing experiments about concepts coming from the foundation of quantum mechanics.
Outside of his work in quantum computing, Raymond enjoys the company of his wife and family. He likes to keep in shape by cycling and skiing and he spends vacation time at a cottage around Owen Sound. “I like to do things with my hands,” he says. “I’ve built a sauna for my cottage, a wood fire oven, and many other things.” One of his hobbies is keeping a 1979 Volkswagen Camper running. “For me, it’s like a puzzle to solve.”
