Artur Ekert facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Artur Ekert
|
|
|---|---|
.jpg)
Ekert in 2016
|
|
| Born |
Artur Konrad Ekert
19 September 1961 Wrocław, Poland
|
| Nationality | Polish, British |
| Alma mater | Jagiellonian University (MSc) University of Oxford (PhD) |
| Known for | Quantum cryptography E91 protocol Swap test Quantum entanglement swapping |
| Awards |
|
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Physics Cryptography |
| Institutions | Merton College, Oxford University of Oxford National University of Singapore |
| Thesis | Correlations in quantum optics (1991) |
| Doctoral advisor | Keith Burnett David Deutsch Peter Knight |
| Doctoral students | Patrick Hayden Michele Mosca |
Artur Konrad Ekert, born on September 19, 1961, is a famous British-Polish professor. He teaches quantum physics at the University of Oxford. He is also a special professor at Merton College, Oxford, where he studies quantum physics and cryptography. Professor Ekert is also a professor at the National University of Singapore. He helped start the Centre for Quantum Technologies (CQT) there.
His work focuses on how information can be processed using the rules of quantum mechanics. He is especially known for his pioneering work in quantum cryptography. This field uses quantum physics to create super-secure ways to send secret messages.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Artur Ekert was born in Wrocław, a city in Poland. He studied physics at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland. Later, he continued his studies at the University of Oxford in England.
From 1987 to 1991, he was a student at Wolfson College, Oxford. For his PhD, he wrote a special paper. In this paper, he showed how a quantum idea called quantum entanglement could be used. This idea helps share secret keys for messages in a perfectly safe way.
Professor Ekert's Career Journey
In 1991, Artur Ekert became a junior research fellow at Merton College, Oxford. A few years later, in 1994, he became a research fellow there. During this time, he started the very first research group focused on quantum cryptography and quantum computation. This group was based at the Clarendon Laboratory in Oxford.
Later, this group grew and became the Centre for Quantum Computation. It is now located at DAMTP in Cambridge. From 1993 to 2000, he held a special position called the Royal Society Howe Fellow. In 1998, he became a professor of physics at the University of Oxford. He also became a fellow and tutor in physics at Keble College, Oxford.
Between 2002 and 2006, he was a professor at Cambridge University. Since 2006, he has been a professor of quantum physics at the Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford. In the same year, 2006, he also became a professor at the National University of Singapore. He was the founding director of the Centre for Quantum Technologies (CQT) there. He retired from the director role in 2020 but remains a Distinguished Fellow at CQT. In 2020, he also joined the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology as an adjunct professor.
Professor Ekert has also worked with many companies and government groups. He has given advice to various professional boards. He is also the Vice Chairman of The Noel Croucher Foundation.
Key Research and Discoveries
Professor Ekert's research covers many areas of how information is processed using quantum systems. He focuses a lot on quantum cryptography and quantum computation.
Quantum Cryptography
He developed a new way to share secret keys for messages. This method uses a quantum idea called quantum non-locality. His paper from 1991 was very important. It started a whole new area of research in physics and cryptography. This paper is one of the most referenced papers in its field. The editors of Physical Review Letters even chose it as a "milestone letter." This means it made a huge difference in physics and led to new discoveries.
Later, he worked with John Rarity and Paul Tapster. They did an experiment that proved quantum key distribution could work. They introduced new techniques like parametric down-conversion and phase encoding into cryptography. He and his team were also the first to create a way to prove the security of these quantum keys.
Quantum Computation
Professor Ekert and his colleagues have also made many important contributions to quantum computation. They worked on both the ideas behind quantum computers and how to build them.
- They showed that almost any quantum logic gate (a basic building block of quantum computers) can be used to build a full quantum computer.
- They suggested one of the first realistic ways to build a quantum computer. This involved using tiny "quantum dots" that interact with light.
- They also created more stable quantum logic gates.
- They proposed a way to protect quantum information from errors, which is now known as "decoherence free subspaces."
Other Contributions
His other important works include research on quantum state swapping. This is about moving quantum information from one place to another. He also worked on how to best guess the state of a quantum system. He has also written about the connections between math proofs and the laws of physics. Additionally, he has written popular articles about the history of science.
Awards and Honors
Artur Ekert has received many awards for his important work.
- In 1995, he won the Maxwell Medal and Prize from the Institute of Physics for his discovery of quantum cryptography.
- In 2007, he received the Hughes Medal from the Royal Society.
- In 2019, he was awarded the Micius Quantum Prize.
- In 2024, he received the Royal Society Milner Award.
- He also shared the 2004 European Union Descartes Prize.
- In 2016, he was chosen as a Fellow of the Royal Society.
- He is a fellow of the Singapore National Academy of Science.
- In 2017, he received the Singapore Public Administration Medal (Silver).
- He is also a foreign member of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences.
See also
- List of Polish physicists
