Physics 2022 Nobel Prize: The Technion Connection

Professor Alain Aspect and Professor Anton Zeilinger, two of the three laureates for the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics, received honorary doctorates from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in recent years. Together with Professor John Clauser, Profs. Aspect and Zeilinger were awarded the Nobel Prize for their breakthroughs in quantum mechanics.

Prof. Anton Zeilinger receiving the honorary doctorate from President of the Technion Prof. Uri Sivan and Executive Vice President for Research Prof. Koby Rubinstein

Prof. Anton Zeilinger received his honorary degree from the Technion last summer during its Board of Governors meeting. Born in Austria in 1945, he is a professor and head of the Institute for Experimental Physics at the University of Vienna, president of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, and senior scientist at the Institute of Quantum Optics and Quantum Information at the Austrian Academy of Sciences.

He received his honorary doctorate from the Technion in recognition of his seminal contributions to quantum science and technology; in appreciation of his dedication to attracting young people to the field; in tribute to his efforts in envisioning science as a platform to enrich the human spirit; and for uniting the Israeli and European academic communities on the path to scientific achievement.

Prof. Alain Aspect receiving the honorary doctorate in 2011 from then-Technion Vice President Prof. Paul Feigin

Born in 1947 in France, Prof. Alain Aspect is a professor at the Ecole Polytechnique in Palaiseau (which has since become part of the University of Paris-Saclay). The winner of many awards, he was accepted in 2015 as a foreign member of the Royal Society of Sciences of Great Britain.

Prof. Aspect received his honorary doctorate from the Technion at the Board of Governors meeting in 2011 in tribute to his fundamental contribution and outstanding scientific achievements in the fields of quantum mechanics and optics; in gratitude for his education of generations of students who continue making significant contribution to world changing technologies; in recognition of his outstanding leadership in the scientific  community; and in gratitude for his friendship and support for the Technion and the State of Israel.

Profs. Aspect, Clauser,and Zeilinger presented experimental evidence for the existence of the quantum-entanglement phenomenon. Entanglement is a special relationship between particles. When two or more particles are intertwined, manipulation of one particle will simultaneously affect another particle that is at a great distance from it without physical interaction and without the transfer of information. Albert Einstein once claimed the phenomenon is a “spooky action at a distance.”

It was Prof. Aspect who showed the interweaving is an existing phenomenon. Prof. Zeilinger added to this the unique phenomenon of quantum teleportation – the transfer of a quantum state from a given particle to another particle. Here, too, there are important connections to the Technion. The entanglement phenomenon was first presented by Einstein, Russian-American physics Professor Boris Podolsky, and American-Israeli physics Professor Nathan Rosen, who was one of the founders of the Technion Physics Department. The idea of ​​teleportation was proposed by six scientists, including the late Professor Asher Peres, another one of the founding fathers of the Technion Physics Department.

Prof. Zeilinger’s honorary doctorate video:

Prof. Aspect’s honorary doctorate conferment: