Vlatko Vedral

Last updated

Vlatko Vedral
Born (1971-08-19) 19 August 1971 (age 52)
Nationality British
Serbian
Education Mathematical Grammar School
Alma mater Imperial College London (BSc, PhD)
Known for Quantum information theory
Quantum mechanics
Quantum entanglement
Awards Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award (2007)
Scientific career
Fields Quantum physics [1]
Institutions University of Oxford
University of London
University of Leeds
National University of Singapore(NUS)
Centre for Quantum Technologies (CQT)
Thesis Quantum information theory of entanglement  (1998)
Doctoral advisors Sir Peter Knight
Artur Ekert
Martin Bodo Plenio
Doctoral students Elham Kashefi [2] [3]
Ivette Fuentes
Libby Heaney
Website www.vlatkovedral.com

Vlatko Vedral FInstP (born 1971) is a Serbian-born British physicist. He is best known for his contributions to quantum information theory, quantum mechanics, and quantum entanglement. [1] He earned his Bachelor of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from Imperial College London, where he graduated with a PhD in 1998. [2] [4]

Contents

An active researcher, Vedral has over 500 published, [1] regularly cited [5] papers to his name. This output covers a broad range of topics within quantum physics, including quantum computing, quantum cryptography, and quantum thermodynamics. In recognition of his scholarly achievements, he was honoured with the Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award in 2007. Throughout his career, Vedral has held a number of academic positions, including lectureships and readership at Imperial College London, a professorship at the University of Leeds, and visiting professorships at institutions worldwide, including Vienna, Singapore, and Beijing. Since 2009, Vedral has served as Professor of Quantum Information Science in the Department of Physics at the University of Oxford. Additionally, he is a Governing Body Fellow of Wolfson College, Oxford.

In addition to his academic work, Vedral has made efforts to popularise and communicate [6] complex scientific concepts to a broader audience. He frequently gives talks [7] on quantum physics and its implications for society, as well as writing for mainstream journals [8] [9] [10] and participating in vlogs, podcasts, and documentaries. [11] Vedral has also written several textbooks and two popular science books, most notably Decoding Reality.

Early years and Education

Vedral was born in Belgrade, Serbia in 1971, the only son of two mathematics teachers. From a young age, he exhibited a keen interest in mathematics and philosophy. Vedral secured a place at the highly competitive Mathematical Grammar School (Matematička gimnazija) in Belgrade, renowned for its nurturing environment for gifted students in mathematics, physics, and informatics. It was during his time at this institution that Vedral's passion for physics was sparked, thanks to the tutelage of an inspirational teacher.

After completing his secondary education, Vedral fulfilled his national service obligations in the Yugoslav Army at the age of 19. He reached the rank of a lieutenant army reserve officer.

In 1991, seeking to further pursue his academic aspirations, he left Serbia for the United Kingdom. Awarded a scholarship from University of London, Vedral embarked on his undergraduate studies in theoretical physics at Imperial College London. In 1998, Vedral completed his PhD, examining the quantum information theory of entanglement, under the guidance and mentorship of Sir Peter Leonard Knight FRS HonFInstP. Vedral's doctoral research laid the groundwork for his future contributions to the field of quantum physics.

Research and Career

Following on from his PhD, Vedral was appointed Elsag-Bailey postdoctoral research fellow at Imperial College London in 1998, then he took on a research fellowship at Merton College, Oxford. In 2000, he returned to Imperial College London as the Governor’s lecturer to start a quantum information science research group. Alongside this, he took on a senior lecturer role at Keble College, Oxford. Both positions he held until 2004.

Prior to serving as the Centenary Professor of Quantum Information Science at the University of Leeds [12] between 2004 and 2009, he was a Reader in Quantum Physics at Imperial College London. Between 2007 and 2022, Vedral was the Principal Investigator at the Centre for Quantum Technologies (CQT) in Singapore, and also Professor of Physics at the National University of Singapore (NUS). Vedral was a director of the Oxford Martin School initiative on bio-inspired quantum technologies [13] from 2013 until 2017. This was an interdisciplinary consortium leading a group of 15 Oxford-based academics in the direction of quantum biomimetics.

Since 2009, Vedral has served as Professor of Quantum Information Science in the Department of Physics at the University of Oxford, concurrently holding the role of Governing Body Fellow of Wolfson College, Oxford.

Bibliography and Publications

Vedral's publications can all be found on Google Scholar. [1] His books include:

Awards and Honours

Visiting Professorships

In addition to his academic positions in the UK, Vedral engaged in collaborative research and mentorship activities at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Canada in 2003, and from 2004 to 2005 he served as a visiting professor at the University of Vienna.

He also held a senior scientist position at the Schrödinger Institute in Vienna, and later served as a distinguished visiting professor at the University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, from 2009 to 2010. Vedral held a chair professorship at Tsinghua University in Beijing from 2015 to 2016, contributing to the institution's renowned research programs.

Professional Services

Vedral's dedication to advancing the field of quantum physics extends beyond his research contributions. As a respected authority in this field, Vedral has served as a referee for scientific journals, including Nature, [10] and Nature related journals, Physical Review, and the Journal of Modern Optics.

In addition, Vedral has also served as a referee for grant proposals and research projects for organisations such as the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), the Royal Society, and various international Science Foundations. He is a regular examiner for PhD theses and junior research fellowships.

Vedral has actively contributed to the organisation and coordination of scientific conferences and research networks. He has played a role in the organisation of five international conferences and two conferences in the UK, providing a platform for researchers to exchange ideas and collaborate on developments in quantum physics. Additionally, Vedral served as the coordinator of the (EPSRC)-funded UK network "Quantum Interference" from 2003 to 2006.

His commitment to shaping the future of quantum computing is reflected in his service on the council for The Future of Computing [24] of the World Economic Forum since 2016. Moreover, he has contributed his insights to the Institute for Scientific Interchange in Turin as a consultant since 2017.

Through his involvement in professional services and leadership roles, Vedral has demonstrated his personal motivations to advance quantum physics, foster collaboration, and shape the future of scientific research.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roger Penrose</span> British mathematical physicist (born 1931)

Sir Roger Penrose, is a British mathematician, mathematical physicist, philosopher of science and Nobel Laureate in Physics. He is Emeritus Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics in the University of Oxford, an emeritus fellow of Wadham College, Oxford, and an honorary fellow of St John's College, Cambridge, and University College London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Berry (physicist)</span> British physicist

Sir Michael Victor Berry, is a British mathematical physicist at the University of Bristol, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anton Zeilinger</span> Austrian quantum physicist

Anton Zeilinger is an Austrian quantum physicist and Nobel laureate in physics of 2022. Zeilinger is professor of physics emeritus at the University of Vienna and senior scientist at the Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. Most of his research concerns the fundamental aspects and applications of quantum entanglement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Artur Ekert</span> Polish-British physicist (born 1961)

Artur Konrad Ekert is a British-Polish professor of quantum physics at the Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford, professorial fellow in quantum physics and cryptography at Merton College, Oxford, Lee Kong Chian Centennial Professor at the National University of Singapore and the founding director of the Centre for Quantum Technologies (CQT). His research interests extend over most aspects of information processing in quantum-mechanical systems, with a focus on quantum communication and quantum computation. He is best known as one of the pioneers of quantum cryptography.

Francis Edwin Close, is a particle physicist who is Emeritus Professor of Physics at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford.

Richard Jozsa is an Australian mathematician who holds the Leigh Trapnell Chair in Quantum Physics at the University of Cambridge. He is a fellow of King's College, Cambridge, where his research investigates quantum information science. A pioneer of his field, he is the co-author of the Deutsch–Jozsa algorithm and one of the co-inventors of quantum teleportation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Ffowcs Williams</span> British engineer-scientist

John "Shôn" Eirwyn Ffowcs Williams (1935–2020) was Emeritus Rank Professor of Engineering at the University of Cambridge and a former Master of Emmanuel College, Cambridge (1996–2002). He may be best known for his contributions to aeroacoustics, in particular for his work on Concorde. Together with one of his students, David Hawkings, he introduced the far-field integration method in computational aeroacoustics based on Lighthill's acoustic analogy, known as the Ffowcs Williams–Hawkings analogy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Knight (physicist)</span> British physicist

Sir Peter Leonard Knight is a British physicist, professor of quantum optics and senior research investigator at Imperial College London, and principal of the Kavli Royal Society International Centre. He is a leading academic in the field of quantum optics and is the recipient of several major awards including the Royal Medal from the Royal Society and the Thomas Young Medal and Prize from the Institute of Physics. He is a former president of the Institute of Physics and Optica, the first non North American-based person to take the position.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arun K. Pati</span> Indian physicist

Arun Kumar Pati is an Indian physicist notable for his research in quantum information, quantum computation and Foundations of quantum mechanics. He has made pioneering contributions in the area of quantum information. He is considered as the Father of Indian Quantum Computing.

Christopher Michael Hull is a professor of theoretical physics at Imperial College London. Hull is known for his work on string theory, M-theory, and generalized complex structures. Edward Witten drew partially from Hull's work for his development of M-theory.

Christine Tullis Hunter Davies is a professor of physics at the University of Glasgow.

Donal Donat Conor Bradley is the Vice President for Research at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia. From 2015 until 2019, he was head of the Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences Division of the University of Oxford and a Professor of Engineering Science and Physics at Jesus College, Oxford. From 2006 to 2015, he was the Lee-Lucas Professor of Experimental Physics at Imperial College London. He was the founding director of the Centre for Plastic Electronics and served as vice-provost for research at the college.

Jeffrey Bub is a physicist and philosopher of physics, and Distinguished Professor in the department of philosophy, the Joint Center for Quantum Information and Computer Science, and the Institute for Physical Science and Technology at the University of Maryland, College Park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miles Padgett</span> Professor of Optics

Miles John Padgett is a Royal Society Research Professor of Optics in the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Glasgow. He has held the Kelvin Chair of Natural Philosophy since 2011 and served as Vice Principal for research at Glasgow from 2014 to 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Molly Stevens</span> British academic

Dame Molly Morag Stevens is Professor of Biomedical Materials and regenerative medicine and Research Director for Biomedical Materials Sciences in the Institute of Biomedical Engineering at Imperial College London.

Jonathan Peter Keating is a British mathematician. As of September 2019, he is the Sedleian Professor of Natural Philosophy at the University of Oxford, and from 2012 to 2019 was the Henry Overton Wills Professor of Mathematics at the University of Bristol, where he served as Dean of the Faculty of Science (2009–2013). He has made contributions to applied mathematics and mathematical physics, in particular to quantum chaos, random matrix theory and number theory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Peter Mackenzie</span> Physicist and educator from Scotland

Andrew Peter Mackenzie is a director of Physics of Quantum Materials at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids in Dresden, Germany and Professor of Condensed Matter Physics at the University of St Andrews, Scotland. He became a co-editor of the Annual Review of Condensed Matter Physics as of 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sandu Popescu</span> British physicist

Sandu Popescu is a Romanian-British physicist working in the foundations of quantum mechanics and quantum information.

Elham Kashefi is a Professor of Computer Science and Personal Chair in quantum computing at the School of Informatics at the University of Edinburgh, and a Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) researcher at the Sorbonne University. Her work has included contributions to quantum cryptography, verification of quantum computing, and cloud quantum computing.

Ivette Fuentes is a Professor of Quantum Physics at the University of Southampton and Emmy Fellow at Keble College, University of Oxford. Her work considers fundamental quantum mechanics, quantum optics and their interplay with General Relativity. She is interested in how quantum information theory can make use of relativistic effects.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Vlatko Vedral publications indexed by Google Scholar
  2. 1 2 Vlatko Vedral at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
  3. Kashefi, Elham (2003). Complexity analysis and semantics for quantum computation. imperial.ac.uk (PhD thesis). Imperial College London. hdl:10044/1/101255. OCLC   1001162468.
  4. Vedral, Vlatko (1998). Quantum information theory of entanglement. imperial.ac.uk (PhD thesis). Imperial College London. hdl:10044/1/11786. OCLC   556614787.
  5. "Vlatko Vedral". scholargps.com. Retrieved 9 May 2024.
  6. "Vlatko Vedral". Substack . Retrieved 7 May 2024.
  7. "Living in a quantum world by Prof Vlatko Vedral" . Retrieved 7 May 2024.
  8. "Vlatko Vedral". New Scientist . Retrieved 7 May 2024.
  9. "Vlatko Vedral". Scientific American . Retrieved 7 May 2024.
  10. 1 2 "Vlatko Vedral". Nature . Retrieved 7 May 2024.
  11. "Vlatko Vedral". IMDB . Retrieved 7 May 2024.
  12. "Theoretical Physics Research Group at University of Leeds". theory.leeds.ac.uk. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
  13. "Bio-inspired quantum technologies at Oxford Martin School". ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
  14. Vlatko Vedral (2005). Modern Foundations of Quantum Optics. Imperial College Press. ISBN   978-1-86094-553-3.
  15. Vlatko Vedral (2006). Introduction to Quantum Information Science. Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0-19-921570-6.
  16. Vlatko Vedral (2010). Introductory Quantum Physics and Relativity. Imperial College Press. ISBN   978-1-84816-514-4.
  17. Vlatko Vedral (2010). Decoding Reality: The Universe as Quantum Information . Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0-19-923769-2.
  18. Vlatko Vedral (2018). Solid State Quantum Information. World Scientific. ISBN   978-1-84816-764-3.
  19. Vlatko Vedral (2018). From Micro to Macro: Adventures of a Wandering Physicist. World Scientific. ISBN   9789813229518.
  20. "Undergraduate prizes and awards at Imperial College, London". imperial.ac.uk. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
  21. "The IPS Prize and Medal Awards 2009". Physics.nus.edu.sg. Retrieved 2 September 2019.
  22. "The Marko V. Jaric Award for Outstanding Achievements in Physics". Wiki.physics.udel.edu. Retrieved 2 September 2019.
  23. "Vlatko Vedral". ae-info.org. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
  24. "Network of Global Future Councils 2016–2018" (PDF). World Economic Forum. p. 14. Retrieved 7 May 2024.