Physics Nobel prize for entangled photons

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• October 14, 2022
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The 2022 Nobel prize in physics was awarded jointly to Alain Aspect, John Clauser, and Anton Zeilinger, “for experiments with entangled photons, establishing the violation of Bell inequalities and pioneering quantum information science”.

This is fantastic news for our field. This Nobel has been mooted for some years now, although perhaps there was some speculation of who exactly would be awarded in the end. Many others made important contributions to the theory and experiment with entangled photons, but these three were surely the most deserving, not only for individual breakthroughs but also as a lifetime achievement. There are many articles out there explaining the achievement of this year’s Laureates, one of the better ones is linked here, from Scientific American.

Anton Zeilinger was my PhD advisor, and I’m honoured to have made what I hope was at least a small contribution to his successful career (along with hundreds of other Masters and PhD students, and postdocs). Apart from his pioneering role in quantum information and foundational research, his most enduring legacy may well be his academic mentorship. Thanks in part to the creative and rich research environment he provided in Vienna, which went beyond the daily research routine, many of those who came before me, many of my immediate colleagues, and many who came thereafter, have since gone on to very successful academic and (quantum) industry careers. Who could wish for more from a life in the sciences.