IUPAP Photo Contest: Celebrating Quantum Imagination—Alexandra Roy and Guillaume Beaudin

Beyond Our Eyes: 1st place photo, Quantum Bridge: Where Electrons Dance, by Alexandra Roy and Guillaume Beaudin

To celebrate the 100 years since the formulation of quantum mechanics, the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) launched an international photo contest to capture the beauty of quantum research and technology developed worldwide, as well as the presence of quantum science and technology in our daily lives. 

The competition, part of the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology (IYQ2025) global events, opened submissions on June 9 in two categories:  

Beyond Our Eyes

“Dedicated to images captured using scientific instruments or produced through simulations of quantum processes, bringing to life phenomena we can’t usually see.”

At a Glance

Welcomed photos “that revealed the aesthetic beauty of scientific instruments, visible quantum effects in nature, such as light patterns, or creative interpretations inspired by quantum concepts.”

Through these categories, IUPAP encouraged scientists, students, and enthusiasts to look beyond technical boundaries and explore the poetry within science. 

The IUPAP–IYQ2025 Photo Contest received submissions from around the world until August 31. After rigorous review, the jury selected winning photographs for their scientific relevance and artistic quality. The IUPAP announced the six winners (three for each category) on October 24. In this series of IYQ blog posts, we intend to feature each winning photograph and the artist who created it, one for each post. 

Quantum Bridge: Where Electrons Dance, photo by Alexandra Roy and Guillaume Beaudin, 1st place in the category Beyond Our Eyes

Guillaume Beaudin has been working in the micro-nanofabrication field since 2006, mostly for photonic applications. He is now working as a research professional at the Interdisciplinary Institute for Technological Innovation (3IT) at the Université de Sherbrooke in Canada, and he is a member of the Institut Quantique (IQ) and the CNSR’s Laboratoire Nanotechnologies Nanosystèmes (LN2). He is the co-founder of Club Art Nano, where nanotechnologies intersect with art.

Alexandra Roy is the manager of the Quantum FabLab at the Institut Quantique of the Université de Sherbrooke in Canada. She discovered scanning electron microscope photography thanks to Guillaume, when looking for an opportunity to highlight quantum technologies studied in the FabLab and invisible to the naked eye. 

Cover Picture: taken by François Thibeault at Institut Quantique, Université de Sherbrooke