Ignacio Cirac receives the Prix de l’Académie

The Royal Academy of Science, Letters and Fine Arts of Belgium recognises the MPQ Director’s ground-breaking achievements with the Prix de l’Académie, the Academy’s highest honour.

In October 2025, MPQ Director Ignacio Cirac and Peter Zoller were awarded the Prix de l’Académie in Brussels for their pioneering contributions to quantum physics. The award honours the physicists’ seminal research, which has had a “profound influence on atomic physics, quantum optics, and quantum information, laying the foundation for today’s developments in quantum technologies”.

"I am very happy to receive this award together with Peter Zoller, a longstanding collaborator with whom I worked in the past and still collaborate today. I would like to thank all the members of my department, both  past and present, because they are the ones  responsible for most of the research recognised by this award", says awardee Ignacio Cirac.

Ignacio Cirac’s and Peter Zoller’s theoretical work has not only deepened our understanding of quantum physics but also driven experimental progress of the field. They pioneered concepts of quantum computers based on ion traps, neutral atoms, and other physical systems, and helped establish the field of quantum simulation through their work on optical lattices. The two theorists were also the first to both introduce and develop the concept of quantum repeaters and demonstrate how to apply them in experimental set-ups.

Director and head of the Theory Division at MPQ since 2001, Ignacio Cirac adds the Prix de l’Academie to an  impressive list of awards. They include nine honorary doctorates, an international membership in the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and a Falling Walls award.