News
A Quantum Insight
19 Jun 2024
The new special exhibition ‘Light and Matter’ at the Deutsches Museum makes quantum physics tangible, the Cluster of Excellence MCQST is part of the exhibition.
From the scanner at the supermarket checkout to high-speed internet surfing through fibre optic cables: developments in quantum physics have long been part of our everyday lives and are widely used. In the new special exhibition ‘Light and Matter’, quantum optical phenomena are now being illuminated and made tangible at the Deutsches Museum.
With numerous objects, in scenoramas and above all at many hands-on stations, the exhibition shows how the understanding of the interaction between light and matter has changed over the last century. As part of the Cluster of Excellence Munich Centre for Quantum Science and Technology (MCQST), the exhibition also offers an insight into current research and an outlook on future applications.
View of the new "Light and Matter" exhibition with many interactive stations. Members of the MCQST Cluster of Excellence offer insigths into current research.
© Deutsches Museum, MünchenHere, research takes a direct route to society, presents its findings, answers questions and, in the best-case scenario, even generates new ideas.Wolfgang Heckl, Director General of the Deutsches Museum
“This exhibition is a fantastic example of lively, contemporary science communication,” says Wolfgang M. Heckl, Director General of the Deutsches Museum. “Here, research takes a direct route to society, presents its findings, answers questions and, in the best-case scenario, even generates new ideas.”
The fact that the United Nations has just proclaimed the next year 2025 as the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology shows just how up to date and important the subject is. “Thanks to the collaboration with the MCQST, we can already give people a basic understanding of this with ‘Light and Matter’,” says Director General Heckl.
Quantum technologies are present everywhere in the media today. Actually developing and realizing an exhibition at the Deutsches Museum that clearly presents the basics of our current research is simply extraordinary! I am very pleased that I was able to make an active contribution to it!Monika Aidelsburger, LMU
In a special section of the exhibiton scientists from MCQST present their current projects on an interactive screen. For example, they discuss approaches to the realisation of quantum computers and the researchers reveal how they came to their profession and what inspires them about their work. And last but not least, there is a ‘mailbox’ through which you can get into a dialogue with the quantum specialists.
The Cluster of Excellence ‘Munich Center for Quantum Science and Technology’ brings together intensive research on quantum science and technology in Munich and the surrounding area and has been funded by the German Research Foundation since 2019. “MCQST is immensely proud to have the German Museum as a partner, providing us with outstanding outreach opportunities to spread the wonders of quantum science. We are truly privileged to collaborate in this exceptional exhibition, showcasing groundbreaking advancements to a wide audience,” says speaker of the cluster Ignacio Cirac.
With ‘Light and Matter’, a chronological and thematic continuation of the ‘Classical Optics’ exhibition has been created in cooperation with the MCQST. While ‘Classical Optics’ focuses on the propagation of light in rays and waves, ‘Light and Matter’ is about how the understanding of the interaction between light and matter has changed over the last century and how we can utilise this knowledge. To be seen and experienced from 19 June 2024 in the special exhibition area in the entrance hall of the Deutsches Museum.