Nick Blunt
Staff Quantum Scientist at Riverlane
Cambridge, England, United Kingdom
Summary
🤩
Rockstar🎓
Top SchoolNick Blunt is a Staff Quantum Scientist based in Cambridge with 14 years of experience applying computational chemistry and many-body quantum methods to real-world problems. He holds a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Cambridge and an MSci in Theoretical Physics from Imperial College, combining deep theoretical training with pragmatic engineering. At Riverlane he progressed from Quantum Engineer to Staff Scientist, producing production-focused quantum software and bridging research with product delivery. An active open-source contributor, Nick has improved core quantum chemistry tools like PySCF and implemented optimizable determinants and GPU-aware functionality in QMCPACK, signaling expertise in both algorithms and high-performance code. Colleagues value his emphasis on maintainable, readable code—he often refactors critical modules and adds features like excited-state calculations and derivative evaluations. He brings a rare blend of academic rigor and production engineering that accelerates deployment of advanced quantum simulation techniques.
15 years of coding experience
3 years of employment as a software developer
Doctor of Philosophy - PhD, Chemistry, Doctor of Philosophy - PhD, Chemistry at University of CambridgeMSci, Physics with Theoretical Physics, First Class Honours, MSci, Physics with Theoretical Physics, First Class Honours at Imperial College London
Github Skills (23)
ec10
struct10
quantum-chemistry10
c-language10
python10
numpy10
cplus10
cpp10
cprogramming-language10
monte-carlo10
refactoring9
cuda9
scientific-computing8
high-performance8
accelerated-computing8
Programming languages (3)
Github contributions (5)
QMCPACK/qmcpack
May 2017 - Jan 2018
Main repository for QMCPACK, an open-source production level many-body ab initio Quantum Monte Carlo code for computing the electronic structure of atoms, molecules, and solids with full performance portable GPU support
Role in this project:
Back-end Developer
Back-end DeveloperContributions:61 commits, 4 PRs, 47 comments in 7 months
Contributions summary:Nick primarily contributed to the implementation of optimizable determinant functionality within the QMCPACK code. This included modifications to the `SlaterDetOpt` class, integrating the `LCOrbitalSetOpt` class, and incorporating code from an external repository. The user worked on functionalities such as the ratio and ratioGrad of wave functions, and introduced code for derivative evaluations, and updates in acceptance and rejection of particle moves.
ab-initiogpumonte-carloquantum-monte-carloelectronic-structure
pyscf/pyscf
Jul 2015 - Oct 2015
Python module for quantum chemistry
Role in this project:Back-end Developer
Back-end DeveloperContributions:16 commits, 11 pushes, 1 branch in 3 months
Contributions summary:Nick primarily focused on refactoring and improving the `future/fciqmcscf/fciqmc.py` file, a core component for quantum chemistry calculations within the pyscf library. Their work involved changing variable names for consistency and clarity, indicating a focus on code maintainability and readability. Furthermore, the user implemented features for excited-state calculations and the inclusion of state weights in the calculations. The changes touch upon the calculation of dipole moments and the integration of specific RDM's.
python-modulesquantum-chemistry
Find and Hire Top DevelopersWe’ve analyzed the programming source code of over 60 million software developers on GitHub and scored them by 50,000 skills. Sign-up on Prog,AI to search for software developers.