physics

Myungshik Kim

Myungshik Kim is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Myungshik Kim rather than just read about it. In short: Myungshik Kim (born 1962) is a South Korean physicist working in the fields of quantum optics and quantum information science. He is Professor of Theoretical Quantum Information Science at Imperial College London.

Key takeaways

Myungshik Kim belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
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Connect Myungshik Kim to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Myungshik Kim from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Myungshik Kim (born 1962) is a South Korean physicist working in the fields of quantum optics and quantum information science. He is Professor of Theoretical Quantum Information Science at Imperial College London.

Early life and education Kim was born in Seoul, South Korea. His father is Sun-Hong Kim, who was the Chairman and CEO of Kia Motors. During his childhood he lived in the neighbourhood of his uncle, Won-ki Kim who was a prominent politician, having served as Speaker of the National Assembly in South Korea. He completed his undergraduate studies at Sogang University. He received his PhD in physics from Imperial College London in 1988 under the supervision of Peter Knight.

Academic career Following his doctoral studies, Kim held postdoctoral positions at Imperial College London, where he worked with Peter Knight and Rodney Loudon on problems in fundamental quantum optics, including nonclassical properties of light and light–matter interactions. After returning to South Korea in 1989 for his compulsory military service, Kim joined the faculty of Sogang University. While in Korea, his research was rather dormant partly due to research isolation and his long-term interests in pursuing a different career path. During the sabbatical period in 1997–1998, he was a Humboldt Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics, where he revitalised his research and expanded it into quantum information processing. In 2000, Kim moved to the United Kingdom to take up an academic position at Queen's University Belfast. He later returned to his alma mater, where he has continued his research and teaching in theoretical quantum science. Since 2013, he has also served as a visiting professor in Quantum Information Science at the Korea Institute for Advanced Study (KIAS).

Research Kim’s research focuses on quantum optics and quantum information processing. He and Jinhyoung Lee, then his student, came up with an idea to use negativity of a partially transposed state as a measure of entanglement in 2000. He has contributed to the theoretical development of quantum information protocols using coherent states, including early proposals for coherent-state–based quantum computation. Together with his colleagues, he published early papers on machine learning for a quantum algorithm and quantum neural networks. His work spans several areas of quantum science, including quantum plasmonics and optomechanical approaches to probing fundamental physics. More recently, his research has addressed error management in quantum computing and quantum simulation methods aimed at practical implementations.

Awards and honours Kim has received several research awards and honours, including the Wolfson Research Merit Award from the Royal Society in 2015, the Ho-Am Prize in Science in 2016 and the Carl-Friedrich-von-Siemens prize in 2022 by the Humboldt Foundation. He was elected to the membership of the Royal Irish Academy in 2009.

Selected publications Jeong, H.; Kim, M. S. “Efficient quantum computation using coherent states.” Physical Review A 65, 042305 (2002). Tame, M. S. et al. “Quantum plasmonics.” Nature Physics 9, 329–340 (2013). Pikovski, I. et al. “Probing Planck-scale physics with quantum optics.” Nature Physics 8, 393–397 (2012).

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Myungshik Kim

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Myungshik Kim claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Myungshik Kim before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Myungshik Kim ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Myungshik Kim

In research: Myungshik Kim appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Myungshik Kim in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Myungshik Kim is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1962 births, Academics of Imperial College London, Alumni of Imperial College London, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Myungshik Kim outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Myungshik Kim in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Myungshik Kim means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Myungshik Kim out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Myungshik Kim in simple terms?

Why does Myungshik Kim matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Myungshik Kim?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Myungshik Kim.