“You must trust your flights of fancy a little” – this was Anton Zeilinger’s credo that brought him to the zenith of his career: in 2022 he received the Nobel Prize in Physics. Many of his works would not have been possible without the freedom “to do things that were not mainstream,” said the quantum physicist, who celebrates his 80th birthday on Tuesday. His field is already reaching a broad audience, as 2025 is being celebrated as the “International Year of Quantum Science.”
He had emphasized his trust in his flights of fancy and his aversion to the mainstream during a press conference after being awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics, which he shared with the Frenchman Alain Aspect and his U.S. colleague John Clauser. They were honored “for experiments with entangled photons, the demonstration of the violation of Bell’s inequalities, and pioneering quantum information science.” And the physicist did not forget to thank the “Austrian taxpayers” whose support made his work possible.
Research at the Boundaries of Knowledge
Zeilinger has always conducted research at the outer limits of current knowledge, delivering groundbreaking contributions to the foundations of quantum physics. In an APA interview on the occasion of his birthday, he traced a line from his question why quantum physics exists at all to its inability to describe reality, extending even to logic and language, whose structure he believes to be quantized. He does not deny that he ventures into the philosophical: “Every good physics cannot avoid philosophy.”
Not least because of his distinctive appearance—with grizzled beard and curly hair—Zeilinger became a public favorite and celebrated media star, earning nicknames like “Mr. Beam,” “Quantum Pope,” or “Popstar of Science.” His popularity was also due to his willingness to leave the ivory tower: he explained the (quantum) world to the Dalai Lama, discussed the meaning of life with Nobel laureates, and showcased his field’s basic principles at documenta in Kassel.
Honors, Legacy, and Ongoing Inspiration
Born on May 20, 1945 in Ried im Innkreis (Upper Austria), Zeilinger completed his gymnasium in Vienna–Hietzing and began studying physics in Vienna in 1963, without a single lecture on quantum physics. He taught himself from books—“and I was immediately fascinated, because quantum physics is full of incredibly beautiful mathematics,” he once said. After earning his doctorate in 1971 under Helmut Rauch in Innsbruck, he worked with Clifford Shull at MIT and later described the three-particle GHZ entanglement in 1986. His 1997 teleportation of photons and 1999 demonstration of quantum key distribution laid the groundwork for today’s quantum communication.
From a professorship in Innsbruck (1990) to leading Vienna’s Institute for Experimental Physics (1999–2013) and founding the IQOQI at the Austrian Academy of Sciences—which he led until 2022—Zeilinger built Austria’s world-leading quantum program. His many honors include the Pour le Mérite (2001), the King Faisal Prize (2005), the Isaac Newton Medal (2007), the Wolf Prize (2010), and Austria’s Grand Gold Decoration for Services to the Republic (2015, 2024).
To mark his 80th birthday, colleagues will convene May 21–23 in Vienna for a symposium titled “Limits of Our Knowledge,” concluding with a public lecture by ERC Vice President Gerhard Gigerenzer on May 23.
