<p>I was reading the following paper:</p>

<ul>
<li>Rolf Landauer, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1147/rd.53.0183" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Irreversibility and Heat Generation in the Computing Process</a>,  IBM Journal of Research and Development, Volume 5, Issue 3, July 1961.</li>
</ul>

<p>On page 4, Landauer gives a construction for a <span class="math-container">$3$</span>-bit reversible gate. Though his argument for logical irreversibility turned out to be wrong, the gate is the same as the Toffoli gate.</p>

<p>Seeing as this paper was published in 1961, way before Toffoli's paper (circa 1980) which gave the Toffoli gate, I am curious as to why the gate is named after Toffoli and not Landauer.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-03-09T17:27:44.350Z
Why wouldn’t it be named after Toffoli? Most things in mathematics are *not* named after their first discoverer.
Emil Jeřábek
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-03-10T06:39:58.353Z
@EmilJeřábek Ah! Now that I think of it, it does make sense. I'm still curious as to how the convention came about. I understand that there might not be a 'proper' answer to such a question, and will be glad to accept yours if you can expand your comment into an answer along with some related history.
Zargles
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-03-10T07:53:30.117Z
There is no convention. At some point, somone gives a concept a name they see as fitting, and sufficiently many other people happen to repeat it so that it sticks. Some other names do not stick. For the most part, it’s all just accident.
Emil Jeřábek
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-03-11T15:35:55.140Z
Indeed, see [Stigler's law](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_examples_of_Stigler%27s_law) (and maybe consider adding this there as an example!)
Joshua Grochow
<ho.history-overview><reversible-computing>
Why is the Toffoli Gate named after Toffoli?
Zargles
# Why is the Toffoli Gate named after Toffoli?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-03-09)

I was reading the following paper:

* Rolf Landauer, [Irreversibility and Heat Generation in the Computing Process](https://doi.org/10.1147/rd.53.0183), IBM Journal of Research and Development, Volume 5, Issue 3, July 1961.

On page 4, Landauer gives a construction for a $3$-bit reversible gate. Though his argument for logical irreversibility turned out to be wrong, the gate is the same as the Toffoli gate.

Seeing as this paper was published in 1961, way before Toffoli's paper (circa 1980) which gave the Toffoli gate, I am curious as to why the gate is named after Toffoli and not Landauer.

**Tags:** ho.history-overview, reversible-computing
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Why wouldn’t it be named after Toffoli? Most things in mathematics are *not* named after their first discoverer.  
> **username_0**: @EmilJeřábek Ah! Now that I think of it, it does make sense. I'm still curious as to how the convention came about. I understand that there might not be a 'proper' answer to such a question, and will be glad to accept yours if you can expand your comment into an answer along with some related history.  
> **username_1**: There is no convention. At some point, somone gives a concept a name they see as fitting, and sufficiently many other people happen to repeat it so that it sticks. Some other names do not stick. For the most part, it’s all just accident.  
> **username_2**: Indeed, see [Stigler's law](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_examples_of_Stigler%27s_law) (and maybe consider adding this there as an example!)  

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## 0 answers

