Explore quantum resources
Branding
The Australian Institute of Physics has co-branded with the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology to create a unified brand identity and voice for Australians to celebrate the year. Start making the most of the free assets. More templates will be available in 2025.
Logo usage
The Australian Institute of Physics and International Year of Quantum Science and Technology logo is designed to reflect the diverse and inquisitive nature of quantum physics, offering a bright symbol of optimism for the future. In order to maintain the consistency and integrity of the brand, it is imperative that the logo is used correctly.
Please contact us with any questions.
Social Media
Keep updated by following the AIP on our social media channels: LinkedIn, Facebook and X; and use this hashtag for the Year #QuantumYear. If your post has space, also add in #IYQ2025 #QuantumCurious #QuantumFuture.
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Writing and talking quantum science
There are many ways of writing about quantum science. Here’s what we have put together for journalists. Please feel free to comment and share your own thoughts on quantum science and how to talk about it.
We can observe gravity in the fall of an apple. We can see the spectrum of visible light with a prism. Observing the subatomic world is harder but one hundred years ago a door opened into a new understanding of the natural world.
The laws of quantum mechanics, established in 1925, have allowed humanity to explore nature at the subatomic scale, where fundamental particles behave as both waves of energy and particles of matter.
These rules have enabled us to start to understand how light, electrons and atoms behave leading to many inventions including
• The LEDs that light our homes and our TV screens in the 21st Century
• The lasers that scan our groceries and correct our vision
• The microchips at the heart of every smartphone, computer and modern car
• The medical imaging devices that have saved countless lives in the fight against cancer and other diseases
• The solar panels and batteries that will enable us to live at net zero.
Today, Australia is at the forefront of the race to develop new quantum technology that will enhance our lives. We’re developing navigation systems that don’t require satellites. We’re creating miniaturised sensors that can detect disease, monitor metal fatigue and find critical minerals. We’re inventing cheaper and more efficient solar and battery technologies, and racing to create quantum computers.
What is quantum science?
New Scientist says, “It’s our best basic picture of how particles interact to make the world. It’s the physics that explains how everything works: the best description we have of the nature of the particles that make up matter and the forces with which they interact.”
“Quantum physics underlies how atoms work, and so why chemistry and biology work as they do. You, me and the gatepost – at some level at least, we’re all dancing to the quantum tune. If you want to explain how electrons move through a computer chip, how photons of light get turned to electrical current in a solar panel or amplify themselves in a laser, or even just how the sun keeps burning, you’ll need to use quantum physics.” Read more.
How did quantum science develop?
In the late 19th Century and early 20th Century many people started to explore ‘the smallest particles – quanta’. A photon is a quanta of light, and an electron is a quanta of electricity. They realised that these quanta have discrete energies, jumping between levels. At a human scale things change gradually. At the atomic or quantum scale, things jump from one level of energy to another.
The pioneers of these ideas included Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, Max Planck and many others. By 1925, these quantum ideas came together in quantum mechanics – rules that describe the quantum world, including the work of Paul Dirac, Heisenberg and his uncertainty principle, Schrodinger and his cat.
PBS has a nice description of the history, read more.
Australia is good at this
Australia is leading the race to build quantum computers using silicon – so that they can be made using today’s computer chip foundries and quantum technology will enable much more, accelerating innovations in materials science, medicine, and cybersecurity, among other fields.
It’s not just quantum computing. There’s quantum positioning (navigation without GPS), quantum sensing for health/environment/everything, quantum biology, quantum chemistry, and we need quantum science to find dark matter and understand how the Universe works.
We’re in the quantum age and it’s moving faster. We need everyone to better understand quantum science, and young people to retain maths and physics at school so that they can get jobs in quantum fields – research, data, policy, health – almost every modern field of science is affected by progress in quantum science.
Partner with us
Together, we can foster an environment of innovation and international collaboration that will build a robust quantum future for Australia.