Endowed Professor 2006: Anton Zeilinger

Quantum physicist Anton Zeilinger was born in 1945 in Ried/Innkreis and is one of the most significant physicists today. He has been running the Institute of Experimental Physics, University of Vienna since 1999. He teaches and researches on the theoretical and experimental principles of quantum physics and its use in quantum communication, quantum teleportation, and quantum computers.

He was associate professor at MIT from 1981 to 1983. From 1983 to 1990, he taught as associate professor at TU Vienna and as a visiting professor in Melbourne, Amherst (USA), Grenoble, and Munich. He was active as full professor at the University Innsbruck from 1990 to 1999, with visiting professorships in Paris and Oxford. He has been director (vice) of the Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information at the Austrian Academy of Sciences since 2004. He is a member of several academies and has received numerous national and international prizes and awards.

PERSONAL INFORMATION

Born May 20, 1945 in Ried/Innkreis in Upper Austria

Married since 5/27/1972 to Mag. pharm. Elisabeth Z., nee Benka,

3 children: Anna (1974), Anton (1977), Matthias (1981).

Austrian citizen

CURRENT POSITION

Since 1999 Full university professor, Head of the Institute of Experimental Physics, University of Vienna.

Address: Boltzmanngasse 5, A-1090 Vienna, Austria

PROFESSIONAL CAREER

2004 Director (vice), Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information,

Austrian Academy of Sciences

2000 Member, European Academy of Arts and Sciences

1999 Full member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences ÖAW

1999 Full university professor for Experimental Physics, Vienna

1998 Visiting Research Fellow, Merton College, Oxford University

1996 Chair of the Austrian Physical Society

1996 European Lecturer 1996 (European Physical Society)

1995 Visiting professor, Collège de France, Paris

1994 Corresponding member of the Austrian Academy

of Sciences (ÖAW)

1990 – 1999 Full university professor for Experimental Physics, Innsbruck

1988 – 1989 University professor (C4), Endowed professorship TU Munich,

1988 Visiting Lecturer, Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Physique de Grenoble

1986 – 1989 Adjunct Full Professor, part-time, Hampshire College, Amherst, U.S.A.

1984 Visiting Professor, University of Melbourne, Australia

1983 – 1990 Associate university professor, TU Vienna.

1981 – 1983 Associate Professor of Physics at M.I.T, U.S.A.

1979 Postdoctoral professional quaification, TU Vienna

1977 – 1978 Fulbright Fellow in the U.S.A., Research Associate at M.I.T.

with Professor C. G. Shull (Nobel Laureate 1994)

1972 – 1981 University assistant, Atomic Institute

1971 Dr. phil. University of Vienna, Dissertation with Prof. H. Rauch

CURRENT AREAS OF RESEARCH

Fundamental experiments in quantum physics, experiment and theory

Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen paradox

Quantum optics of correlated photons

Coherent atomic optics, atom interferometry

Neutron optics, neutron interferometry

Tests for quantum mechanics

Quantum cryptography, quantum communication

Basic physical principles of a quantum computer

Quantum teleportation

SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS

Author or publisher of 7 books

Over 350 scientific publications

Over 600 invitations to hold presentations at conferences and universities all over the world

ACADEMIC CITATIONS

Some articles have become classics among academic citations. The article "Experimental Quantum Teleportation" (Nature, 1997) was in the top 10 of the most frequently cited academic articles in 1998 and by January 2005 had been cited over 670 times (see "ISI Web of Science").

ACTIVITY AS AN ACADEMIC PUBLISHER

Editorial Board, Foundations of Physics-Letters (since 1988)

Editorial Board, Physical Review A (since 1994)

Co-editor ‘Frontiers of Neutron Scattering’, North-Holland 1986

Co-editor ‘Matter-Wave Interferometry’, North-Holland 1988

Co-editor ‘Quantum Interferometry’, World Scientific 1994

Co-editor ‘Fundamental Problems in Quantum Theory’,

New York Academy of Sciences 1995

Co-editor ‘Experimental and Epistemological Foundations of Quantum Physics’,

Vienna Circle Yearbook 1999

PRIZES AND AWARDS

1975 City of Vienna young scientist award

1979 Cardinal Innitzer prize

1980 Theodor Körner prize

1984 Sir Thomas Lyle Fellow, University of Melbourne

1995 Prix "Vinci d’Excellence," Fondation LVHM, Paris

1996 Cardinal Innitzer honorary prize

1996 Austrian scientist of the year

1997 ‘Welsh Lecturer’, University of Toronto

1997 European Optics Prize, European Optical Society

1998 Honorary Professor, University of Science and Technology of China

1999 Fellow, American Physical Society

2000 Member, Academia Scientiarum et Artium Europaea

2000 Alexander von Humboldt Foundation prize

2000 Science award from the City of Vienna

2001 Member of the Orden Pour le mérite for sciences and arts

2001 Decoration for science and art from the Republic of Austria

2001 "Visionary 2001," ORF and Der Standard Österreich

2001 "World Future Award 2001," Men’s World Day

2001 "Erwin Wenzl Prize 2001," Upper Austria

2002 Chemerda Lecturer, Pennsylvania State University

2002 Full member, Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences

2002 Johannes Kepler prize, Upper Austria

2003 Sartorius prize, Academy of Sciences in Göttingen

2004 Klopsteg Memorial Lecture Award, AAPT

(American Association of Physics Teachers)

2004 Lorenz-Oken medal from the Society of German Natural Scientists and Doctors

2005 King Faisal prize from the King Faisal Foundation, Saudi Arabia

2005 Member, German Academy of Sciences, Leopoldina

2005 Honorary member, Learned Society of the Slovak Academy of Sciences

2005 Honorary doctorate Humboldt University, Berlin

2005 Wilhelm-Exner medal, Österreichischer Gewer