People News

The 2012 Nobel Prize for physics goes to two pioneers of quantum reality, David Wineland, who works at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in the U.S, and Serge Haroche of the Collège de France and Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, France. Both performed important work with controlling and measuring qubits.

Members of the JQI will give a total of 38 presentations at the 43rd Annual APS Meeting for the Division of Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics.

The Joint Quantum Institute participated in the annual Maryland Day event on April 28, 2012. Every year tens of thousands of visitors flock to UMD to learn about the university and its’ affiliates. This year, in spite of the cool weather and occasional rain, MD day attracted about 65,000 people. The JQI presented three demos on the lawn outside of the Physics Building. JQI thanks all the volunteers that made this event possible!

Back in February, Steve Rolston gave a public lecture to a standing-room-only audience at the DC Science Café. The event was held at Busboys and Poets restaurant. Following a 20 minute introduction to the subject, Rolston led an hour-long lively discussion with topics ranging from practical uses of quantum information to deeper foundational issues. The restaurant hosts these public café events monthly, organized through the DC Science Writers Association, with partial support from the Physics Frontier Center at JQI.