Prize Recipient


Recipient Picture

Peter Zoller
Universität Innsbruck

Citation:

"for his pioneering theoretical work on quantum computation, communication, and simulation with trapped ions, atoms, and molecules."

Background:

Peter Zoller is a professor of physics at the University of Innsbruck, Austria, and scientific director for the Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information (IQOQI) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. He is best known for his pioneering research on quantum computing and quantum communication, and for bridging quantum optics and solid-state physics. In 1971, Peter Zoller received his doctorate in physics at the University of Innsbruck. In 1991, he was appointed professor of physics and a JILA Fellow at JILA at the University of Colorado, Boulder. In 1994, he accepted a chair at the University of Innsbruck. As a theoretician, Peter Zoller has written major works on the interaction of laser light and atoms. In addition to fundamental developments in quantum optics he has succeeded in bridging quantum information and solid state physics. A member of the National Academy of Sciences, Peter Zoller has received numerous awards for his achievements in the field of quantum optics and quantum information and especially for his pioneering work on quantum computers and quantum communication. These include the 2016 Herbert Walther Award from the OSA, the 2013 Wolf Prize in Physics (with Juan Ignacio Cirac), the Franklin Institute’s 2010 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Physics (with Juan Ignacio Cirac and David Wineland), the 2006 Dirac Medal, the 2005 Max Planck Medal.


Selection Committee:

2018 Selection Committee Members: Thomas Gallagher (Chair), Immanuel Bloch, Gretchen Campbell, Bradley Fillipone, Mikhail Lukin, Jun Ye