KIT Brings Outstanding Experimental Physicist Back to Germany

Wolfgang Wernsdorfer Is Awarded Alexander von Humboldt Professorship in Berlin – Research for Ultra-rapid and Energy-efficient Molecular Quantum Computers
In Berlin: Wolfgang Wernsdorfer (second from the left); Holger Hanselka (left), President of KIT; Cornelia Quennet-Thielen, State Secretary of the BMBF, and Helmut Schwarz (right), President of Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (Photo: D. Ausserhofer)
Wolfgang Wernsdorfer (Foto: Humboldt-Stiftung/Wolfgang Hemmann)

Germany’s award in the highest amount for researchers from abroad was handed over to Professor Wolfgang Wernsdorfer yesterday evening (May 03) in Berlin. The pioneer of molecular spin electronics will now return from France to Germany: From June 01, 2016, Wernsdorfer will continue his research for the development of future quantum computers at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). The research award in the amount of EUR 5 million was handed over by the State Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Cornelia Quennet-Thielen, and the President of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Professor Helmut Schwarz.

“Wolfgang Wernsdorfer is the perfect match for KIT,” the President of KIT, Professor Holger Hanselka, says. “It is one of our objectives to make essential contributions in the areas of energy, mobility, and information for coping with the global challenges of mankind. We are very happy to have Mr. Wernsdorfer, an internationally renowned expert in the areas of electronics, spin physics, and quantum computting, in Karlsruhe in the future.”

Wolfgang Wernsdorfer will come from the Institut NÉEL of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) in Grenoble, France, back to KIT in Germany. He is specialized in molecular quantum spintronics, an area of experimental solid-state physics at the interface to chemistry and materials sciences. Wernsdorfer is among the leading experts worldwide for molecular nanomagnets and their use in quantum computer systems. With his pioneer experiments, Wernsdorfer determined and further developed the area of quantum magnetism. He found how molecular magnets behave under the laws of quantum mechanics. Based on this finding, he was able to build electronic circuits with single molecules, in which electric current can be controlled by the magnetization of the molecule.

Further information in the Press Release 070/2016.


lg, 04.05.2016