Hanson, Nam, Zeilinger Awarded Bell Prize

Ronald Hanson, Sae-Woo Nam and Anton Zeilinger, scientists who defied Einstein by proving the nonlocal nature of quantum entanglement, will be honored with the John Stewart Bell Prize from the University of Toronto.

Hanson at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, Nam at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Maryland and Zeilinger at the University of Vienna, Austria, each led separate experiments in 2015 that showed two particles so distant from one another that no signal could connect them even at the speed of light nevertheless possessed an invisible and instantaneous connection.

"While many experiments have come close to proving quantum entanglement, the scientists we are honoring have closed previous loopholes," said Aephraim Steinberg, a quantum physicist at the University of Toronto's Center for Quantum Information and Quantum Control and one of the founders of the Bell Prize. "Collectively, they have removed all reasonable doubt about the nonlocal nature of quantum entanglement. In so doing, they are also opening the door to exciting new technologies including super-secure communications and the ability to perform certain computations exponentially faster than any classical computer.”

The prize recognizes the most significant recent achievements in the world in quantum mechanics and is considered by many to be the top international award in the field. The nominees are judged by an international panel of experts and awarded every two years for achievements in the previous six years.