Join us for a captivating afternoon that brings science and art together through a reading from the new book Two Revolutions: Einstein’s Relativity and Quantum Physics, jointly authored by the late black hole physicist C. V. Vishveshwara and his daughter, theoretical physicist Smitha Vishveshwara. The book explores the twin revolutions of Einstein’s relativity and quantum physics, woven through personal reflections and imaginative storytelling. The event will feature artists and physicists sharing science, dramatized dialogues spanning themes from the quantum to the cosmic, and a dance performance that interprets the story of the Universe and the rhythm of scientific discovery through movement.
Book reading: Vijay Padaki (Theatre Educator & Playwright), Minti Jain (Theatre Educator & Actor), Dr B S Shylaja (Former Director, JNP), Sri Pramod G Galgali (Former Director, JNP), Sri H R Madhusudana (Visiting Faculty, JNP), and Smitha Vishveshwara (Quantum physicist & author) Interpretive dance: Suma Krishnamurthy (Bharathanatyam Dancer) Music: Lavanya Krishnamurthy (Karnatak Musician) Guest scientists: Parameswaran Ajith (Astrophysicist) Anchor: Prajval Shastri (Astrophysicist)
C. V. Vishveshwara was a theoretical physicist, affectionately known as the “Black Hole Man of India.” He is best known for his discovery of the “quasi-normal modes” of black holes — vibrational modes of black holes that are analogous to the ringdown of a bell. His predictions were confirmed by the recent observations of gravitational waves. A well-known author and cartoonist, he was the founding director of the Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium in Bengaluru.
Smitha Vishveshwara is a theoretical physicist at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, known for her work at the interface of condensed matter physics and quantum phenomena. She is also known for her creative approaches to science communication, blending physics with music, theatre, and storytelling to make complex ideas accessible to broad audiences.
The year 2025 marks a historic milestone—100 years since the birth of quantum mechanics, a scientific revolution that redefined our understanding of nature at its most fundamental level. In celebration of this centenary and in alignment with the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology (IYQ 2025), declared by UNESCO, we proudly present the Workshop Celebrating the Quantum Century: From Puzzling Principles to Transformative Technologies 2025 (SCQC 2025).
Organized under the aegis of the COMSNETS Association, SCQC 2025 is a special edition workshop dedicated to reflecting on a century of quantum discoveries while charting the course for the next era of transformative quantum technologies. This workshop encompasses all four major drivers of quantum technology, i.e., computing, sensing, communications, and materials.
From the early philosophical debates on wave-particle duality and uncertainty to today’s advancements in quantum computing, communication, sensing, and materials, this workshop serves as a unique platform to bridge the journey from foundational principles to real-world impact.
SCQC 2025 will bring together a distinguished community of researchers, industry leaders, policymakers, entrepreneurs, startups, students, and educators.
How do you measure the success of an outreach project? When we launched QuanTour just over a year ago, we didn’t really know what to expect.
Our idea of QuanTour started with a simple, playful concept: what if a quantum emitter (an artificial atom made out of semiconductor material capable of emitting one photon at a time) could travel across Europe, visiting research labs in a kind of relay race, announcing the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology like an Olympic torch? We packed a real quantum light source — a single-photon emitter — into a custom-built suitcase and sent it on tour. The goal wasn’t just to showcase quantum technology and offer a look behind the scenes, but to connect people and to highlight the diversity of scientists, from students to professors. From the very beginning, we had one audience especially in mind: young people between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five. Not with hard educational content or dense physics explanations, but through a light, fun concept that sparks curiosity. By showcasing scientists in an authentic way, we aimed to make science tangible and approachable.
How our quantum light source fascinated people around the world
Credit: The Science Talk.
A year later, we find ourselves overwhelmed by the project’s rapid development. Across digital platforms, QuanTour content has reached over one million views, far more than we had imagined. To put that into perspective, a research paper might receive 30 citations per year, while a conference talk might reach 200 people. QuanTour, by contrast, reached homes, labs, newspapers, podcasts, and people, finding a presence in places that traditional academic outputs rarely reach.
While these are just numbers, it’s the stories surrounding the quantum emitter that are truly memorable. The open lab days organized by researchers at QuanTour stops welcomed both young and old. The newspaper clippings proudly passed around among families who saw their children and grandchildren featured in the media. The regional news outlets that celebrated their role in a European-wide initiative, not only in English but in the many languages spoken across Europe. The unexpected scientific exchanges between labs that hadn’t worked together before. These encounters, often spontaneous and personal, remind us that quantum science is not just about abstract theory or precision measurement. It is about human connection, about curiosity, and about the shared joy of discovery.
Credit: Max Aigner. Credit: Helio Heut.Credit: Ana Musial.
Key ingredients and lessons learned
Looking back, we also learned a lot about what makes outreach successful. One key ingredient was choosing the right partners. Since the task force of the German Physical Society (DPG) was founded three years before the start of the Quantum Year, we became part of the team and refined our idea. The German Physical Society played a vital role, not only by supporting us financially—with generous funding from the Wilhelm and Else Heraeus Foundation – and administratively, but also by helping to spread the word. Another important aspect is that we teamed up with science communication expert Dr. Pranoti Kshirsagar from The Science Talk. She taught us how to build sustainable communication strategies, how to identify a target audience, how to make our content visible, and how to overcome our initial hesitation with digital platforms. She also hosted a twelve-episode podcast series featuring interviews with the scientists behind QuanTour. These episodes became much more than outreach content. They evolved into a kind of lecture series on quantum science, accessible to everyone.
Another lesson we took to heart is that outreach, just like research, thrives through collaboration. Partnering with established institutions and strong communicators can amplify ideas and make them visible to entirely new audiences. Involving the community directly is just as essential. When we announced a challenge to bring QuanTour to Türkiye, the response was immediate and enthusiastic. When it finally arrived, the celebration at the Izmir Quantum Days was unforgettable. Students asked thought-provoking questions, researchers welcomed them with enthusiasm, and the atmosphere was electric from start to finish.
Now, while the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology is in full swing, the journey of the quantum light source continues. We are already planning the next chapters of QuanTour, with new stops, new stories, and new encounters that bring quantum science into conversation with the wider world. Outreach does not end when the suitcase closes. It evolves, just like science itself.
Cheers to the little quantum emitter and to all those who have contributed to turning an idea into a movement.
Authors: Doris Reiter (TU Dortmund) and Tobias Heindel (TU Berlin), Members of the DPG Quantum Taskforce
The Brilliant (Quantum) Poetry competition invites participants worldwide to submit poems inspired by quantum science themes, such as superposition, entanglement, and uncertainty. Submissions will be accepted in all UN official languages, with English translations for judging.
Prizes
First prize £1000 — Second prize £500 — Third prize £250
El Departamento de Ciencias Naturales de la Universidad Pedagógica Nacional “Francisco Morazán” tiene el agrado de invitarles a “La Cuántica en Nuestro Mundo”, un evento dedicado a explorar los misterios y aplicaciones de la ciencia cuántica.
A lo largo del día, sumérgete en una serie de charlas magistrales de 45 minutos que abordarán temas como la dualidad onda-partícula, la evolución de nuestra comprensión del átomo, el impacto de los puntos cuánticos, el prometedor futuro de la computación cuántica y la relevancia de la seguridad radiológica en este campo.
Además, podrás apreciar una exposición de pósteres que ilustra la evolución histórica de la ciencia cuántica, ofreciendo una perspectiva visual y educativa sobre sus hitos y descubrimientos clave. Para una experiencia más interactiva, tendremos visitas guiadas al laboratorio de física, donde podrás presenciar directamente un fenómeno cuántico: los espectros de emisión de gases.
The Swiss Physical Society started its IYQ2025 activities in 2024 with the historical symposium about Louis de Broglie – 100 years of wave-particle dualism, held as a vernissage at its annual meeting in Zürich, and continues the tradition at the joint annual meeting with the colleagues of the Austrian Physical Society (ÖPG) in Vienna in August 2025. One of the foci will be the scientific work of Wolfgang Pauli and Erwin Schrödinger in the years around 1925. Both physicists were born in Austria, but spent parts of their careers as professors of Physics in Zurich. The eminent speakers with their presentations are :
• Christoph Lehner, Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte Berlin: The Tangled Tale of Entanglement: New Discoveries from Schrödinger’s Research Notes
• David Kaiser, Department of Physics, MIT: Scenes from the Quantum Century: From Curious Hippies to Novel Tests of Bell’s Inequality
• Alyssa Ney, LMU München: Philosophy of Quantum Mechanics Beyond the Measurement Problem
• Beatrix Hiesmayr, Universität Wien: Wolfgang Pauli’s and Erwin Schrödinger’s Insights from the Perspective of a Modern Quantum Technologist
This symposium will take place on 18 August 2025 in the afternoon, and is free of charge.
The Quantum Science and Technology Club of Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore, is pleased to present its weekly lecture series. An online invited talk is arranged most weeks, typically on Friday. You can join the session using the provided MS Teams link.
Join us for qLIFE 2025, the first international conference dedicated to exploring the transformative role of quantum technologies in the life sciences. From quantum sensing and imaging to computing and simulation, this event brings together global leaders from physics, biotechnology, and medicine to examine how quantum innovation is reshaping health, sustainability, and the biosciences.
Why attend?
Talks from global leaders in academia and industry, including IBM, Google, Stanford, Novo Nordisk, and more
Discover cutting-edge applications of quantum tech in medicine and the life sciences
Connect with a cross-disciplinary community shaping the future of science
Presented by
The ARC Centre of Excellence in Quantum Biotechnology
bePOM is an annual gathering of the Belgian photonics community aimed at strengthening the Belgian photonics network, which associates research groups from all universities in Belgium working on fundamental and applied topics in photonics. It provides early-career and established researchers with the opportunity to (re-)discover and learn about ongoing research topics in Belgian cities nearby, without having to move from their home universities. The 6th bePOM edition will take place on September 19, 2025.
This workshop will serve as a dynamic forum for the exchange of knowledge, the encouragement of interdisciplinary collaboration, and the advancement of cutting-edge verticals within quantum technologies, including quantum computation, quantum communication, quantum sensing and metrology, quantum materials, modern spectroscopy, and quantum-enhanced interferometry for gravitational and precision measurements.
Key themes to be explored at IWQT-2025 include:
Quantum Computation
Quantum Communication
Quantum Sensing and Metrology
Quantum Materials
Modern Spectroscopy
Gravitational Wave Astronomy
The workshop will feature keynote addresses and tutorials by world-renowned quantum physicists, along with technical sessions showcasing the latest advancements and experimental breakthroughs. Special sessions will be dedicated to oral and poster competitions, providing a platform for emerging researchers to present their work and gain valuable feedback.
Opportunities for interdisciplinary networking and collaborative engagement will be central to IWQT-2025, supporting the formation of new partnerships and the nurturing of next-generation quantum technologies.
By bridging expertise across academia, industry, and policy, IWQT-2025 aims to accelerate the journey from quantum principles to real-world applications—inspiring the innovations that will define the future.
