Nobel Prize Winner Anton Zeilinger Turns 80

Many of his works would not have been possible without the freedom to "do things that were not mainstream," said the quantum physicist, who celebrates his 80th birthday on Tuesday. His field is already quite influential, as 2025 will be celebrated as the "International Year of Quantum Science."

Zeilinger emphasized his trust in his whims and his aversion to the mainstream at a press conference after being awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics, which he received together with Frenchman Alain Aspect and his US colleague John Clauser. They were honored "for experiments with entangled photons, proving the violation of Bell's inequalities, and pioneering quantum information science." And the physicist did not forget to thank the "Austrian taxpayers" who made his work possible.

Research at the Frontiers of Knowledge

And Zeilinger has always conducted his research at the outer boundaries of current knowledge, making groundbreaking contributions to the foundations of quantum physics. Even the insights into his current research, which the physicist shared in an APA interview on the occasion of his birthday, might be dismissed by some with a shake of the head.

Starting from his question of why quantum physics exists at all, he spans the arc from the inability of quantum physics to describe reality to logic and language, whose structure he believes is quantized. Zeilinger does not deny that he is already deep into philosophy: "Every good physics cannot avoid philosophy." And who knows where such "whims" might lead one day.

From the Dalai Lama to the documenta

Not least because of his appearance with a graying bushy beard and curly hair, Zeilinger became a public favorite and celebrated media star, earning attributes like "Mr. Beam," "Quantum Pope," or "Pop Star of Natural Science." His popularity is probably also due to the fact that he never shied away from leaving the ivory tower: he explained the (quantum) world to the Dalai Lama, discussed the meaning of life with Nobel laureates, and demonstrated the basic principles of his field at the documenta in Kassel.

"Anyone interested in natural sciences will surely have an interesting life," he said last year at the presentation of a PIXI book for school beginners with him as the protagonist. He proved this with his life story: Born on May 20, 1945, in Ried im Innkreis (Upper Austria), he was an "outsider" at the high school in Vienna-Hietzing, but fortunately found other students with unusual interests and was inspired by a teacher to study physics. He began this in 1963 at the University of Vienna, but had "not a single lecture on quantum physics" there.

Incredibly Beautiful Mathematics

He had to acquire this from books, "and I was immediately fascinated because quantum physics is of incredibly beautiful mathematics." He also found fascinating what was not in the books: "When you ask what it all means, in terms of an interpretation of quantum mechanics, you get the feeling that there must be something interesting hidden there," he once said.

He had "the great fortune" to do his doctoral thesis with Helmut Rauch (1939-2019), the founding father of quantum optics in Austria. Initially, Zeilinger worked quite classically with neutrons. But Rauch showed that not only light particles have wave properties, but - as predicted by quantum physics - also massive particles like neutrons. Thus, the further path towards quantum physics was clear.

After completing his doctorate (1971), Zeilinger remained as an assistant with Rauch. During this time, he undertook his first research stays abroad, including with the later Nobel laureate Clifford Shull at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he discussed the quantum physical phenomenon of entanglement with US physicists Daniel Greenberger and Michael Horne.

In this quantum physical state, two entangled particles remain strongly connected over any distance, with changes to one seemingly instantaneously affecting the other particle. Zeilinger has turned this phenomenon into a powerful tool - both for fundamental research and for applications.

In 1986, with Greenberger and Horne, he described a special form of entanglement involving three particles ("GHZ state"). This work is considered one of the physicist's most important achievements in professional circles. It took until 1998 to experimentally produce these states - the path to this proved to be scientifically extremely fruitful.

Foundation of Austrian Quantum Physics

From 1983, Zeilinger was an assistant at the Technical University (TU) Vienna, and in 1988 he received a temporary professorship at TU Munich. In 1990, he was finally appointed as a professor at the University of Innsbruck, where he laid the foundation for Austrian quantum physics, which is now among the world leaders.

In 1999, he finally moved to the University of Vienna, where he led the Institute for Experimental Physics and worked as a professor until his retirement in 2013. In 2003, he also co-founded the Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information (IQOQI) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) with physicists from the University of Innsbruck, which he led as president from 2013 to 2022.

Professionally, Zeilinger is regarded by connoisseurs as a gifted experimenter, who succeeds in uncovering new connections and confirming or refuting prevailing theories through sophisticated experiments. In doing so, he has repeatedly engaged with fundamental questions of quantum physics with technical precision and intellectual foresight.

This engagement led to a series of results that attracted international attention. For example, Zeilinger's probably most famous experiment on the way to realizing the "GHZ states" emerged: in 1997, he succeeded for the first time in teleporting light particles. Although this was not about the long-distance transmission of matter as in "Star Trek," but rather of exact information, the experiment was compared to "beaming."

This ensured public interest - and he catered to it with a variety of communication efforts, for which the Club of Education and Science Journalists named him "Scientist of the Year" in 1996. "He can convey enthusiasm because he himself is an enthusiast," he was once described.

Question of Application Potential a Horror

Even though the increasing tendency to ask about the application potential of research is a horror to him and he advocates for "openness to truly fundamental questions," Zeilinger and his team recognized that the effects from the quantum world can be utilized, such as quantum cryptography. In this, entangled particles are used for eavesdrop-proof transmission of keys.

Zeilinger first demonstrated that this is possible in 1999. Five years later, he premiered a money transfer encrypted using quantum cryptography. With the vision of a quantum internet in mind, Zeilinger and his team pushed the boundaries of entanglement and teleportation further and further - up to transmission between two Canary Islands.

Zeilinger wanted to aim even higher and engaged - unsuccessfully - for a European quantum communication satellite. The Chinese were then supposed to build it and launch it in 2016 under the name "Micius." The Viennese physicist was a cooperation partner - after all, the head of the Chinese project, Pan Jian-Wei, had completed his doctorate under Zeilinger.

In 2017, Zeilinger, as ÖAW President, finally conducted the first quantum-encrypted video call with his Chinese counterpart using "Micius." Zeilinger, who for years was among Austria's most cited and thus most influential researchers, once again attracted worldwide attention.

According to his own admission, authorities and boundaries meant nothing to Zeilinger even as a student. He has never shied away from taking a stand on current issues and engaging in university and research policy. He consistently pursued the idea of establishing a top research institution in Austria. He was able to win over the political sphere for the idea, and in 2009 the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) was opened in Klosterneuburg. In the same year, he founded the International Academy Traunkirchen to support talented young people. The Traunsee region has become a second home for the enthusiastic sailor.

Anton Zeilinger: Engagements Beyond Science

His prominence, combined with his love for what he considers "indispensable and vital music," also brought the passionate concert and opera-goer engagements and appearances beyond science: For example, as a keynote speaker at the opening of the Salzburg Festival (2023) or as a designer of the "Musikverein Perspektiven" festival in 2024.

The multiple honorary doctor has received countless awards: In 2001, he was admitted to the German order "Pour le Mérite" and received the Austrian Decoration for Science and Art. In 2005, he received the Saudi Arabian "King Faisal Prize," in 2007 the first-ever "Isaac Newton Medal" from the "Institute of Physics." In 2010, he was awarded the prestigious Wolf Prize. For his 70th birthday in 2015, he received the Grand Decoration of Honour in Gold for Services to the Republic of Austria, followed by the John Stewart Bell Prize in 2017, the Chinese Micius Prize in 2019, and finally in 2024, the Grand Decoration of Honour in Gold with Sash for Services to the Republic of Austria.

Birthday Conference in Vienna

Zeilinger spends his birthday "quite simply and modestly with the family," as he told APA. Colleagues are organizing a scientific symposium in honor of Zeilinger from May 21 to 23 on the topic "Limits of Our Knowledge," where many of his students are expected to attend.

At the conclusion of the conference, ÖAW and the University of Vienna invite to a public evening event in the ceremonial hall of the academy on May 23. The keynote speech will be given by the German psychologist and Vice President of the European Research Council (ERC), Gerhard Gigerenzer. He will speak on the topic "Between Probability and Certainty: Human Decision-Making in an Uncertain World."

Congratulations on his birthday have already come in advance from four of his central academic institutions: the ÖAW, the Vienna University of Technology, as well as the universities of Innsbruck and Vienna. Congratulations also came from the Austrian Science Fund FWF to the "probably most famous living researcher in Austria."

(APA/Red)

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