ETH News

Four women and four men successfully applied for Starting Grants from the Swiss National Science Foundation via ETH Zurich.

ETH Professor Yiwen Chu is investigating how to apply quantum states to ever larger objects. This should help to gain new insights into physics and develop more efficient technologies. She has now been awarded the ETH Zurich Latsis Prize for her outstanding research.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed a laser that produces the strongest ultra-short laser pulses to date. In the future, such high power pulses could be used for precision measurements or materials processing.

At its meeting of 18 and 19 September 2024 and upon application of Joël Mesot, President of ETH Zurich, the ETH Board appointed fifteen professors. The Board also awarded the title of "Professor of Practice" once.

Most of a planet’s water is generally not on its surface but hidden deep in its interior. This affects the potential habitability of distant worlds, as shown by model calculations of researchers at ETH Zurich and Princeton University.

At its meeting of 11 and 12 July 2024 and upon application of Joël Mesot, President of ETH Zurich, the ETH Board appointed six professors. The Board also awarded the title of "Professor" two times and the title of "Professor of Practice" once.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have, for the first time, made visible how electrons form vortices in a material at room temperature. Their experiment used a quantum sensing microscope with an extremely high resolution.

By analysing images made of coloured dots created by quantum simulators, ETH researchers have studied a special kind of magnetism. In the future this method could also be used to solve other physics puzzles, for instance in superconductivity.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have studied topological effects in an artificial solid, making surprising observations. The new insights into topological pumping could be used for quantum technologies in the future.

Researchers at ETH have managed to trap ions using static electric and magnetic fields and to perform quantum operations on them. In the future such traps could be used to realize quantum computers with far more quantum bits than have been possible up to now.

Studying at ETH Zurich is demanding, and all students have their own personal hurdles to overcome. This video series portrays ETH students.

A new Master’s degree programme in Space Systems will be launched at ETH Zurich in autumn 2024. Interested parties can start applying in April.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed a sensor that utilises energy from sound waves to control electronic devices. This could one day save millions of batteries.

At its meeting of 6 and 7 December 2023 and upon application of Joël Mesot, President of ETH Zurich, the ETH Board appointed twelve professors and awarded the title "Professor of Practice" once.  

Of the 13 scientists receiving an SNSF Starting Grant for projects at ETH Zurich this year, 11 are women.

ETH Zurich researchers have detected a new type of magnetism in an artificially produced material. The material becomes ferromagnetic through minimization of the kinetic energy of its electrons.

ETH Zurich is participating in two quantum computing projects that are being financed by IARPA, the US research funding agency, with up to 40 million dollars. Both projects aim to connect two error-corrected qubits with one another and thus lay the foundation for future quantum computers.

At its meeting of 20 and 21 September 2023 and upon application of Joël Mesot, President of ETH Zurich, the ETH Board appointed five professors and awarded the title of professor three times.

Quantum mechanics describes the forces that hold the world together on the smallest scale. The theory of relativity explains the world at the cosmic level. The two seem incompatible – and a unifying theory is nowhere in sight.

John von Neumann was one of the most important mathematicians and computer pioneers of the 20th century – and an ETH alumnus. He began his studies in chemistry here one hundred years ago. ETH Professor Benjamin Sudakov pays tribute to a mathematical legacy at a symposium.

At its meeting of 24 and 25 May 2023 and upon application of Joël Mesot, President of ETH Zurich, the ETH Board appointed nine professors and awarded the title of professor twice. At the same time, the Board also bid farewell to nine professors and thanked them for their service.

ETH Zurich researchers have succeeded in demonstrating that quantum mechanical objects that are far apart can be much more strongly correlated with each other than is possible in conventional systems. For this experiment, they used superconducting circuits for the first time.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have created the heaviest Schrödinger cat to date by putting a crystal in a superposition of two oscillation states. Their results could lead to more robust quantum bits and help to explain why quantum superpositions are not observed in everyday life.

With a constellation of five satellites, the international LIFE initiative led by ETH Zurich hopes to one day detect traces of life on exoplanets. A laboratory experiment in the Department of Physics is now set to demonstrate the planned measurement method.

Around the world, the race is on to achieve a decisive breakthrough in quantum research. ETH Zurich is spearheading its own challenge.

At its meeting of 8 and 9 March and upon application of Joël Mesot, President of ETH Zurich, the ETH Board appointed 14 professors and awarded the title of professor five times. At the same time, the Board also bid farewell to three professors and thanked them for their service.

ETH researchers have managed to take three-dimensional pictures of single nanoparticles using extremely short and strong X-ray pulses. In the future this technique could even be used to make 3D-movies of dynamical processes at the nanoscale.

The ETH physicist has received an SNSF Consolidator Grant worth CHF 1.75 million.

Does life exist elsewhere in the universe? There’s a good chance it does – though it might look very different to life on Earth. Scientists may soon be able to offer a definitive answer.

ETH Professor Klaus Ensslin spent 12 years at the helm of the National Centre of Competence in Research “Quantum Science and Technology”. As the programme prepares to wind down at the end of this year, we spoke to him about scientific breakthroughs and Switzerland’s role in quantum research.

Nobel laureate and astrophysicist Didier Queloz and earth scientist Cara Magnabosco on the origin of life on Earth, complex life beyond our planet, and the inevitable end of every life.

Daniel Angerhausen believes that fundamental research is essential, especially in the current crisis. Still, he wonders if we shouldn’t extend the idea of sustainability into the infinite reaches of outer space.

Nine scientists are receiving SNSF Starting Grants for projects they plan to carry out at ETH Zurich starting next year.

On the current list of Highly Cited Researchers, 21 have a connection to ETH Zurich. Four of these appear on the list for the first time.

For the first time, ETH Zurich researchers have been able to make a superconducting component from graphene that is quantum coherent and sensitive to magnetic fields. This step opens up interesting prospects for fundamental research.

Studying at ETH Zurich is challenging, and all students have their own personal hurdles to overcome. This short video series gives a somewhat different insight into everyday life as a student. It provides an account of students, their setbacks and how they dealt with them.

The physics professor Ursula Keller has received the Swiss Science Prize Marcel Benoist for her pioneering work in ultrafast lasers. Her theoretical models and experimental discoveries have repeatedly tested the boundaries of ultrafast laser physics.

ETH Zurich is opening a new research and teaching centre with a focus on exploring the origin and prevalence of life on Earth and beyond. Under the leadership of Nobel Laureate Didier Queloz, more than 40 research groups from five departments will address the big questions posed by humankind.

On 11 July, NASA published the first image taken by the James Webb Space Telescope. ETH Zurich Astrophysicist, Adrian Glauser was also involved in the construction of one of the telescope's measuring instruments. In an interview, he explains what he thought and felt when he saw the image.

The Venture Awards for Swiss start-ups were presented yesterday evening for the 25th time. In addition to the three certified ETH spin-offs DeepJudge, Kaspar& and Versics, the 15 winners included five other start-ups founded by ETH students and alumni.

The Swiss National Science Foundation has awarded Advanced Grants to make up for the loss of European support. Researchers at ETH Zurich did particularly well, with 6 of the 24 grants going to the university.

At its heart, is mathematics an aesthetic discipline? Or what does it mean if someone finds a proof “beautiful”? And what does mathematical beauty say about physical connections?

What the “Night of Physics” really aims to do is make physics accessible to a broad audience in a way that’s entertaining. This event will be held on 17 June. Klaus Ensslin, Professor of Physics and co-initiator of the event, explains why it’s worth coming along to the Hönggerberg campus.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have succeeded for the first time in trapping excitons - quasiparticles consisting of negatively charged electrons and positively charged holes – in a semiconductor material using controllable electric fields. The new technique is important for creating single photon sources as well as for basic research.  

This year’s ETH award for particularly innovative teaching projects goes to a course that brings physics experiments for students right into their home. The project was up against 24 others competing for the KITE Award 2022.

At its meeting of 9 and 10 March 2022 and upon application of Joël Mesot, President of ETH Zurich, the ETH Board appointed ten professors and awarded the title of professor twice.  

For Didier Queloz, excellent research requires international networks and know-how. He calls on politicians to admit British and Swiss scientists to Horizon Europe.

Sylvain Lacroix is a theoretical physicist who conducts research into fundamental concepts of physics – an exciting but intellectually challenging field of science. As an Advanced Fellow at ETH Zurich’s Institute for Theoretical Studies (ITS), he works on complex equations that can be solved exactly only thanks to their large number of symmetries.

The launch of the James Webb Space Telescope is set to take place in the coming days. For ETH Zurich physicist Adrian Glauser, who was involved in two unspectacular but vital contributions to this ambitious project, it will bring to an end a long period of anxious anticipation.

"Where the future begins" is the name of ETH Zurich's new image film. Based on six projects, it provides a look behind the scenes and highlights how ETH Zurich is tackling the big questions. The new film was produced by Seed, the same agency that realised the successful ETH trailer "Ready?" five years ago.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have succeeded, for the first time, in quickly and continuously correcting errors in digital quantum systems. This means they have overcome an important hurdle on the road to practical quantum computing.

The most famous ETH Alumnus Albert Einstein has come to life as an animated figure and is a guest in the ETH Podcast.

World’s most highly cited scientists list includes 17 from ETH Zurich. Many of whom conduct cross-disciplinary research.

Matteo Fadel is investigating the interplay between quantum mechanics and gravity as part of his Branco Weiss Fellowship. He wants to observe quantised sound waves with the help of a sapphire.

Collaboration between talented members of multidisciplinary teams provides the best foundation for innovative, useful and trustworthy applications of artificial intelligence. This approach has been demonstrated at a joint event by ETH Entrepreneur Club and the ETH AI Center.

Load-bearing, lightweight and now also recyclable: researchers led by Professor Paolo Ermanni were presented with the Spark Award in recognition of an innovative process for production of sustainable composite materials. ETH Zurich awarded the prize to their promising invention, with this year marking the tenth time the award has been given.

Two years ago, ETH launched the innovative Master’s degree in quantum engineering. Now the first cohort of students is nearing the end of the programme.

Could quantum technologies really be the next gold rush? ETH Vice President Vanessa Wood and quantum researcher Andreas Wallraff discuss how close we are to putting quantum promises into practice.

If only it were less prone to error, quantum physics might already be giving us instant solutions to seemingly unsolvable problems. ETH researchers are therefore working to develop systems that are more robust.

At ETH Zurich researchers have observed a new state of matter: in graphene layers twisted relative to each other, two electrical conductors team up to form an insulator.

What secrets are held by the black hole at the centre of the Milky Way? Andrea Ghez, astronomer and Nobel Laureate in Physics, will discuss this question as part of next week’s Paul Bernays Lectures 2021. The honorary lecture series on the philosophy of the exact sciences will take place for the tenth time.

Torrential rain and flooding have dominated the weather over the past few weeks. To forecast these weather events with greater accuracy and gain a better understanding of them against the backdrop of global climate change, ETH Zurich and partners are developing a new generation of high-resolution weather and climate models.

Some physical systems, especially in the quantum world, do not reach a stable equilibrium even after a long time. An ETH researcher has now found an elegant explanation for this phenomenon.

In this episode of the ETH podcast Didier Queloz talks about the quandaries of being a young Nobel Laureate. He also talks about his plans at ETH and tells us what he would ask a Martian if he met one.

The more connected the world becomes, the greater the demands that data traffic places on communications infrastructure. ETH Pioneer Fellow Marc Reig Escalé and his team develop innovative chips that process information faster than previously possible while requiring even less energy.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have succeeded in observing a crystal that consists only of electrons. Such Wigner crystals were already predicted almost ninety years ago but could only now be observed directly in a semiconductor material.

While Domenico Giardini, Professor of Seismology and Geodynamics, already has his hands on Mars, Adrian Glauser, Senior Researcher at the Institute for Particle Physics and Astrophysics, has to be patient. Among many others, Adrian worked on the James-Webb-Telescope that shall finally launch this fall, with a delay of many years.

How is matter distributed within our universe? And what is the mysterious substance known as dark energy made of? HIRAX, a new large telescope array comprising hundreds of small radio telescopes, should provide some answers. Among those instrumental in developing the system are physicists from ETH Zurich.

Officially elected today by the ETH Board, Günther Dissertori is to take over as Rector of ETH Zurich in February 2022. In this portrait, he talks about what tasks he finds the most challenging and what effective teaching has in common with excellence in physics.

Renowned planetary researcher and Nobel laureate Didier Queloz is moving to ETH Zurich, where he will be joining with other professors to study the origins of life in a new centre.

This episode of the podcast is all about astrophysics. The first Swiss astronaut Claude Nicollier talks about his flights into space and astrophysicist Judit Szulágyi about her experiences at NASA.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have succeeded in turning specially prepared graphene flakes either into insulators or into superconductors by applying an electric voltage. This technique even works locally, meaning that in the same graphene flake regions with completely different physical properties can be realized side by side.

ETH Zurich and the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) establish a joint centre for the development of quantum computers. Its aim is to advance the realization of quantum computers based on both ion traps and superconducting components. ETH Zurich provides 32 million francs for this centre, which will host around 30 researchers.  

The flagship supercomputer of the CSCS, "Piz Daint", needs to be replaced. Installation of the successor computer, "Alps", is taking place in three phases and will be completed in 2023. CSCS Director Thomas Schulthess explains in an interview why the new computer is so special.

An international research team with members from ETH has developed a new method for directly imaging smaller planets in the habitable zone of a neighbouring star system. This opens up new possibilities in the search for extraterrestrial life.

In experiments at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI, an international research collaboration with ETH Zurich involvement has measured the radius of the atomic nucleus of helium five times more precisely than ever before. With the aid of the new value, fundamental physical theories can be tested.

An international team of researchers led by ETH Zurich has reconstructed solar activity back to the year 969 using measurements of radioactive carbon in tree rings. Those results help scientists to better understand the dynamics of the sun and allow more precise dating of organic materials using the C14 method.

Quantum research has long since ceased to be an exclusive domain of physics. The purpose of the new ETH Quantum Center is to ensure ETH Zurich’s various competences and activities in this area are networked even more closely and to raise their public profile.

ETH Zurich intends to further expand its leading position in quantum research, and so it is planning a highly specialised physics laboratory building on the Hönggerberg campus. A generous donation from ETH alumnus and ETH Honorary Councillor Martin Haefner is now the key step to taking the project further.

Why is gravity the most mysterious force of nature? Lavinia Heisenberg studies how the universe was formed, and how it is changing. She has now been awarded the ETH Zurich Latsis Prize for her outstanding achievements in the field of theoretical physics.

Two research projects with ETH Zurich involvement have been awarded one of the highly coveted ERC Synergy Grants. These EU grants aim to promote pioneering research that is only possible through the synergy of several teams. More than EUR 26 million will now be made available for the two projects.

Researchers at ETH have demonstrated a new technique for carrying out sensitive quantum operations on atoms. In this technique, the control laser light is delivered directly inside a chip. This should make it possible to build large-scale quantum computers based on trapped atoms.

Researchers at ETH have managed to make an efficient material for broadband frequency doubling of light using microspheres made of disordered nanocrystals. The crucial idea for the method arose during a coffee break. In the future, the new approach could be used in lasers and other light technologies.

Celeste Carruth originally planned to be a musician. Now she is a physicist at ETH working to develop a new technique for controlling ions. As a member of the WEF’s Young Scientist community, she wants to help non-scientists better understand quantum physics.

In a material made of two thin crystal layers that are slightly twisted with respect to each other, researchers at ETH have studied the behaviour of strongly interacting electrons. Doing so, they found a number of surprising properties.

The coronavirus crisis forced ETH Zurich to suspend its experimental research activity and switch to virtual teaching at short notice. A report from the Department of Physics reveals the impact of the seismic switch on a practical level.

Remote research, what does that mean? Andreas Wallraff is currently running the Quantum Device Lab from home.

Physicists at ETH Zurich have demonstrated a five-metre-long microwave quantum link, the longest of its kind to date. It can be used both for future quantum computer networks and for experiments in basic quantum physics research.

A complex research experiment lasting several years shows that the electric dipole moment of the neutron is significantly smaller than previously assumed. It has thus become less likely that the existence of matter in the universe can be explained by precisely this dipole moment.

ETH Meets Davos during the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting 2020 with  "Rethinking Creativity" - an interactive exhibition featuring five new prototypes that  show how creativity plays an essential role in scientific and technological innovation.

Physicists at ETH Zurich have observed a surprising twist in a quantum system caused by the interplay between energy dissipation and coherent quantum dynamics. To explain it, they found a concrete analogy to mechanics.

Quantum mechanics is a well-established theory, but at a macroscopic level it leads to intractable contradictions. Now ETH physicists are proposing to resolve the problem with the aid of neural networks.

Metamaterials defy conventions, making rigid media flexible, soft materials transmit signals, and sound and light behave in bizarre ways. Metamaterials are engineered to possess properties not found in nature.

Florian Emaury, CEO and co-founder of Menhir Photonics, has a dream: to shake up the market with ultrafast lasers. The company’s approach is based on reliable, robust, high-precision lasers – and a strong presence both in the markets and on social media.

ETH researchers have developed a compact infrared spectrometer. It’s small enough to fit on a computer chip but can still open up interesting possibilities – in space and in everyday life.

Energy systems, cryptography and computer-aided simulation; interactions between people, animals and landscape, investigation of biosystems from the human brain to the nanometer scale: the incoming professors work in a wide range of cutting-edge research fields. Three ETH professors will soon leave the university.

A team of physicists and computer scientists at ETH Zurich has developed a new approach to the problem of dark matter and dark energy in the universe. Using machine learning tools, they programmed computers to teach themselves how to extract the relevant information from maps of the universe.

At the sixth Times Higher Education (THE) World Academic Summit, experts from the research community and higher education explored and reflected on how digitalisation is changing higher education and on nurturing of talent. ETH Zurich hosted the conference.

Fifteen talented young researchers from ETH Zurich are each to receive an ERC Starting Grant, which is more than for any year previously. This will result in a total of 23 million euros in European funding for ETH.

Are there limits to what computers are actually able to compute, and do quantum computers really solve more problems than conventional computers? Computer scientist Scott Aaronson will discuss these kinds of fundamental questions during the Paul Bernays Lectures 2019.