RSEF–BBVA Foundation 2022 Physics Award

Each year, the Royal Spanish Physics Society-BBVA Foundation Physics Awards recognize creativity, effort and achievement in the field of physics in order to serve as a stimulus to professionals who carry out their work both in research and in the fields of secondary and university education, innovation, technology and outreach.

In an award ceremony that took place on Tuesday, December 13^th , ICFO postdoctoral researchers Dr Javier Argüello who recently defended his thesis in the Theoretical Quantum-Nano Photonics group led by ICREA Prof Dr Darrick Chang, and Dr Alejandro González Tudela, researcher at the Instituto de Física Fundamental-CSIC, co-supervisor of Javier’s thesis, were awarded the RSEF-BBVA prize for the best Outreach contribution in the publication of the Royal Spanish Society of Physics (RSEF).  The prize was awarded for their article, “Analog quantum simulators: a tool for understanding the matter that surrounds us” (Simuladores cuánticos analógicos: una herramienta para entender la materia que nos rodea) published in the Revista Espaóla de Física, Vol. 35, nº 1, enero-marzo 2021.

In the award citation, the jury recognizes the clarity with which the authors presented their work in quantum simulations in an entertaining way. They valued the originality of the comparison with the work of the architect Antonio Gaudí, illustrating the transversality that some brilliant ideas can have. They also highlighted the article's ability to successfully convey the connections between applied and fundamental physics in a unique and novel way.

Congratulations Javier and Alejandro for your creative publication and for this well-deserved recognition.