Alain Aspect is Professor at the Intitute d’Optique at the Université Paris-Saclay, and professor at the École Polytechnique at the Institut Polytechnique de Paris. He is also Emeritus Senior Researcher at the CNRS and member of the Académie des Sciences, the Académie des Technologies and several other academies in Austria, Belgium, Italy, UK and USA. He has received multiple prizes for his work focused on experimental tests of the foundations of quantum mechanics, including the Holweck Medal, the Wolf Prize in Physics, the Albert Einstein Medal, the ForMemRS, the Niels Bohr International Medal, the UNESCO Niels Bohr Medal, the CNRS Gold Medal and the Nobel Prize in Physics, among others. The asteroid 33163 Alainaspect, discovered by astronomers in 1998, was named after him.

Why is the quantum world so different from the world we see with our naked eyes? Why did Niels Bohr and Albert Einstein disagree about what happens in the quantum world? What is entanglement and why can something on the moon be entangled with something on Earth? Why can things be both particles and waves? What are the quantum revolutions?

The world we see around us is completely different from the world at very small distances, making it difficult for our brains to understand the exact nature of our reality. When Niels Bohr and his friends came up with the idea of quantum physics in the beginning of the 20th century, very few people believed it. A century later, we are still trying to understand it. This should not come as a surprise; it is really difficult to actually see small particles such as particles of light. To do this, physicists like tonight’s guide, Alain Aspect, had to build sophisticated microscopes and experimental apparatus.

Alain Aspect will take you through two quantum revolutions and explain the amazing concepts behind quantum theory, always hand in hand with the experiments he has carried out in his laboratory to demonstrate the strange properties of the quantum world. He will also discuss how these ideas have led to applications that have revolutionised our society and how they will affect our future.

Event held in English, with generous support of the Institut Français du Danemark.

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