Paul A. Benioff (born on May 1, 1930, in Pasadena, California) is an American physicist who helped pioneer the field of quantum computing. Benioff is best known for his research in quantum information theory during the 1970s and 80s that demonstrated the theoretical possibility of quantum computers by describing the first quantum mechanical model of a computer. In this work, Benioff showed that a computer could operate under the laws of quantum mechanics by describing a Schrödinger equation description of Turing machines. Benioff's body of work in quantum information theory has continued on to the present day and has encompassed quantum computers, quantum robots, and the relationship between foundations in logic, math, and physics.