The Max Planck Society annually awards the Otto Hahn Medal to up to 30 early-career scientists for outstanding achievements in their doctoral research. This year, the honuor goes to Amelie Heinzerling, who conducted her PhD research in the Division of MPQ Director Ferenc Krausz. She was recognized for her pioneering contributions to ultrafast optics and attosecond science. The award ceremony took place during the Max Planck Society's Annual Meeting in Frankfurt am Main. more

Universidad Carlos III de Madrid has awarded an honorary doctorate to Ignacio Cirac, Director of the Theory Division at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics. The distinction recognises his pioneering contributions to quantum information theory, a field in which he has helped lay the foundations for quantum computing and quantum technologies. The honorary doctorate is the tenth such distinction of his career. more

The American National Academy of Sciences (NAS) has elected MPQ Director Ferenc Krausz as an international member. The honour recognises his pioneering contributions to attosecond physics and to fundamental research more broadly. NAS membership is widely regarded as one of the highest honours in science, with only a limited number of international members elected each year. more

The International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) and IBM have awarded the newly established Richard Feynman Prize for Quantum Computing to MPQ Director Ignacio Cirac. The prize committee acknowledges his central role in establishing the theoretical foundations of quantum information processing, including the theory of entanglement, quantum simulation, and tensor-network methods. The award ceremony took place on 21 April at ICTP in Trieste.  more

Ferenc Krausz, Director at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics and Professor at the Ludwig Maximilian University Munich, has been awarded the Széchenyi Prize, the highest state distinction for scientific achievement in Hungary, and the Jedlik Ányos Prize, recognising his pioneering contributions to ultrafast and attosecond science. more

The postdoctoral researcher in the Theory division at MPQ has been awarded the American Physical Society’s (APS) 2026 Irwin Oppenheim Award, which recognises exceptional early-career research published in the APS journal Physical Review E. He receives the distinction “for showing that the second law of thermodynamics limits the ability to distinguish between quantum states.” more

MPQ Director Ignacio Cirac has been awarded the IMPRS-MCQST Supervision Award 2025. The IMPRS-MCQST community honours him for his outstanding dedication to mentoring PhD students and postdocs. Johannes Knolle, Professor at TU Munich, is recognised alongside Cirac. The award underlines the importance of excellent supervision for successful research careers and an inclusive academic environment. more