Zeilinger one year after the Nobel Prize: “There is certainly a role model effect”

On October 4, 2022, Rieder native Anton Zeilinger (78) was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for experiments with entangled photons. In an interview with the Austria Press Agency (APA), the quantum physicist looks back on an eventful year with the award ceremony “climax that cannot be topped” back and sees excessive expectations in quantum physics.

How have you been since the Nobel Prize in Physics was announced?

Anton Zeilinger: Things have changed more than I expected.

For the positive or the negative?

I don’t want to judge that. What’s really nice is that every few steps someone speaks to me or smiles at me on the street. I notice that the Nobel Prize is viewed positively.

What were the highlights of the past year?

I constantly receive invitations from somewhere in the world. But I can only perceive a fraction of it – and that hurts somewhere.

Are there people who want to bask in the glory of the Nobel Prize winner with an invitation?

That also exists and you have to be very careful not to be taken advantage of. At this point I would like to praise politics. I was invited to talks by various politicians without anything leaking out. I give everyone credit for that.

After the Nobel Prize announcement, you said that science remained a high priority and that you wanted to continue research. Did you succeed?

Not to the extent I hoped. I have to cut back on commitments so that I can devote more time to research.

For decades it was heard that Austria needed a Nobel Prize winner again, as a role model and to improve the standing of science in society and politics. In your opinion, is there something like that “Zeilinger effect”?

I hear it exists. Apparently there are more people interested in studying physics.

Can a Nobel Prize do something like that?

I think so. It’s about motivating young people. There is certainly a role model effect.

They argue that research should no longer be expected to say what it can be used for. Will you be heard with this?

At the annual meeting of the American Society of Physics, I made it clear that I believe the move towards application orientation in research is a mistake. I received thunderous applause for this.

In science you are obviously heard…

But not for everyone. There are colleagues who demand more application-oriented funds for research, for example in the climate crisis, which is certainly a problem. But here too, the scientific objective must take priority.

Today, companies are being founded based on the quantum physics foundations that you and your colleagues have laid. Are you happy about that or are you indifferent?

When it comes to these things, it bothers me that too much is often promised that will supposedly be solved soon. If someone claims that cryptographic codes will be cracked in two years, then they obviously have clairvoyant abilities. Such a statement cannot be scientifically justified. I’m not the only one who’s afraid of this “Quantum hype” could be greatly reduced because expectations are exaggerated. I’m not saying anything against the research, it’s still exciting.

You resigned from your management positions a few years ago, and your colleagues Rainer Blatt and Peter Zoller in Innsbruck are increasingly withdrawing. Do you see this generational change in Austrian quantum physics as a risk?

There are very good people at the level after us. But we now really have to see whether we can bring in unusual people who absolutely want to do something new and at the same time have leadership qualities.

To person

Physicist Anton Zeilinger (78) was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2022 together with the French physicist Alain Aspect and his US colleague John Clauser. Zeilinger, born on May 20, 1945 in Ried im Innkreis, is one of the most renowned Austrian scientists. The quantum physicist has made groundbreaking contributions to the fundamentals of quantum physics throughout his career.

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