The Austrian quantum physicist Anton Zeilinger was awarded the Nobel Prize on Tuesday. From 1990 to 1999 he also researched and taught at the Institute for Experimental Physics at the University of Innsbruck and acted as the engine of Innsbruck’s quantum physics – which in turn was not a quantum leap.
INNSBRUCK. The fact of being recognized for a “quantum leap” in research should bring a smug smile to the faces of physicists like Anton Zeilinger. After all, a quantum leap is considered by the general public to be something enormously great, when in reality it describes the smallest possible change of state in physics. The fact that the term was used completely incorrectly shows that few really understood quantum physics. Not so Anton Zeilinger. He was informed by the Swedish Academy of Sciences on Tuesday that he will receive the Nobel Prize in Physics. From 1990 to 1999 he researched and taught at the Institute for Experimental Physics in Innsbruck. “I warmly congratulate Anton Zeilinger on the Nobel Prize. It is a great hour for Austrian physics, but also for the University of Innsbruck, at whose Institute for Experimental Physics Anton Zeilinger researched and taught from 1990 to 1999 and where he carried out several of the honored groundbreaking experiments , according to the first quantum teleportation with photons in 1997,” says Rector Tilmann Märk happily.
Engine of the Innsbruck quantum research
The quantum teleportation experiment was the first to transfer the quantum state of one particle to another particle at a distance. Last but not least, Zeilinger’s successes were also a reason for expanding quantum physics in Innsbruck and later led to the founding of the Academy Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information in Innsbruck and Vienna. At the University of Innsbruck, more than 20 working groups are currently conducting research in the field of quantum physics, including the development of the quantum computer.
Janus word
Not only the quantum leap is one of the words misused in the general public. Words that have two completely opposite meanings, like the word “quantum leap”, are called Janus wardens, which goes back to the Roman god Janus, who is always depicted with a double face. Another Janus word that is similarly misused is claustrophobia. The term is incorrectly used for the fear of confined spaces (claustrophobia). In fact, claustrophobia describes the fear of large spaces.
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Nobel Prize for Anton Zeilinger