Hannes Bernien

Information

Biography

Hannes Bernien is a Professor at the University of Innsbruck and a Director of the Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information. His work focuses on finding answers to questions such as how to fully scale controlled quantum systems from the current few-particle level to many particles, how to study the effects of increased complexity in these systems, and how to utilize these phenomena for quantum technology such as quantum computing and quantum networking. His lab combines techniques from quantum control and quantum optics with ultracold atoms and nanotechnology to develop new ways of engineering large, complex quantum systems and studying the phenomena that arise in such systems. Before moving to Austria at the beginning of 2025, he spent 10 years in the U.S., first as a Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard University and from 2019 as an Assistant Professor at the University of Chicago. Among Bernien’s awards are the Gordon Memorial Speakership 2024, the Klung Wilhelmy Science Award (2023), the New Horizon in Physics Prize by the Breakthrough Foundation (2022), an NSF Career Award (2024), a Sloan Research Fellowship (2021), and the International Quantum Technology Young Scientist Award by IOP.