U de S physicist wins prestigious national award
The Royal Society of Canada has announced that Prof. Dr. Alexandre Blais of the Physics Department and Director of the Institut Quantique at the Université de Sherbrooke will receive the Rutherford Memorial Medal in physics, awarded annually by the Royal Society of Canada in memory of Professor Ernest Rutherford. The New Zealand-born physicist and chemist spent a part of his career at Mcgill University in Montreal. As his discoveries were made when he was still quite young, the RSC prioritizes young researchers for the prize, awarded in recognition of eminent research projects in any area related to physics.
“It’s a great recognition and I’m honoured to see my name added to the list of people who’ve contributed significantly to the progress of physics,” said Blais. “They would undoubtedly tell you the same thing as me, which is that the work leading to this distinction is not carried out alone. It’s the sum of all the efforts of an entire team. So, this Rutherford medal is also for my team members.”
Professor Blais’ scientific achievements are numerous, but the most striking is his contribution to the development of circuit quantum electrodynamics and he is the author of the seminal article in the field, “Cavity quantum electrodynamics for superconducting electrical circuits: An architecture for quantum computation.” He is a member of two programs at the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) - quantum information and quantum materials -and he has also been the scientific director of the Institut Quantique since its inception in February 2016.
The field of quantum physics is growing rapidly and as Professor Blais explained, the main challenge is remaining creative and relevant. “It’s an exciting time because change is happening at tremendous speed and we’re seeing the emergence of companies that are using results from fundamental research in this field. Given this context of scientific expansion, it’s essential to reinvent ourselves constantly.”