Pan Jianwei (; born 11 March 1970) is a Chinese quantum physicist, university administrator and professor of physics at the University of Science and Technology of China. Pan is known for his work in the field of quantum entanglement, quantum information and

quantum computer Quantum computing is a type of computation whose operations can harness the phenomena of quantum mechanics, such as superposition, interference, and entanglement. Devices that perform quantum computations are known as quantum computers. Though ...

s. In 2017, he was named one of

Nature's 10 ''Nature'' 10 is an annual listicle of ten "people who mattered" in science, produced by the scientific journal ''Nature''. Nominees have made a significant impact in science either for good or for bad. Reporters and editorial staff at ''Nature'' ...

, which labelled him "Father of Quantum". He is an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the

World Academy of Sciences The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) is a merit-based science academy established for developing countries, uniting 1,000 scientists in some 70 countries. Its principal aim is to promote scientific capacity and excellence for sustainable deve ...

and Executive Vice President of the University of Science and Technology of China. He also serves as one of the Vice Chairman of

Jiusan Society The Jiusan Society () is one of the eight legally recognised minor political parties in the People's Republic of China under the direction of the Chinese Communist Party. The party's original name was "Democracy and Science Forum" on its in ...

Early life and education

Pan was born in Dongyang,

Jinhua , alternately romanized as Kinhwa, is a prefecture-level city in central Zhejiang province in eastern China. It borders the provincial capital of Hangzhou to the northwest, Quzhou to the southwest, Lishui to the south, Taizhou to the east, ...

, Zhejiang province in 1970. In 1987, he entered the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), from which he received his bachelor's and master's degrees. He received his PhD from the University of Vienna in Austria, where he studied and worked in the group led by Nobel prize winning physicist Anton Zeilinger.

Contributions

Pan's team demonstrated five-photon entanglement in 2004. Under his leadership, the world's first quantum satellite launched successfully in August 2016 as part of the Quantum Experiments at Space Scale, a Chinese research project. In June 2017, Pan's team used their quantum satellite to demonstrate entanglement with satellite-to-ground total summed lengths between 1600km and 2400km and entanglement distribution over 1200km between receiver stations. In 2021, Pan led a team which built quantum computers. One of the devices, named "''Zuchongzhi 2.1''", was claimed to be one million times faster than its nearest competitor, Google's ''Sycamore''.

Awards and recognition

Pan was elected to the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2011 at the age of 41, making him one of the youngest

CAS Cas may refer to: * Caș, a type of cheese made in Romania * ' (1886–) Czech magazine associated with Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk * '' Čas'' (19 April 1945–February 1948), the official, daily newspaper of the Democratic Party of Slovakia * ''CA ...

academicians. He was then elected to the World Academy of Sciences in 2012 and won the International Quantum Communication Award in the same year. In April 2014, he was appointed Vice President of the University of Science and Technology of China. His team's work on double quantum-teleportation was selected as the ''Physics World'' "Top Breakthrough of the Year" in 2015. His team, whose members include Peng Chengzhi, Chen Yu'ao, Lu Chaoyang, and Chen Zengbing, won the

State Natural Science Award The State Science and Technology Prizes () are the highest honors conferred by the national government of the People's Republic of China in science and technology, in order to recognize citizens and organizations who have made remarkable contribut ...

(First Class) in 2015. In 2017, the journal '' Nature'' named Pan, along with such figures as Ann Olivarius and Scott Pruitt, one of the top 10 people who made "a significant impact in science either for good or for bad", with the label "Father of Quantum" given to Pan. Pan was included in ''Time'' magazine's ''100 Most Influential People of 2018.'' In 2019, Pan was appointed as lead editor of '' Physical Review Research''. In 2020, Pan received the ZEISS Research Award.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pan, Jianwei 1970 births Living people Quantum physicists Chinese academic administrators Members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Members of the Jiusan Society Physicists from Zhejiang Scientists from Jinhua Educators from Jinhua People from Dongyang TWAS fellows University of Science and Technology of China alumni University of Science and Technology of China faculty University of Vienna alumni