This episode of the Physics World Weekly podcast features Ignacio Cirac , who has won the 2026 Isaac Newton Medal and Lecture for his “pioneering contributions that founded modern quantum information science, uniting profound theoretical insight, experimental vision, and exceptional scientific leadership shaping quantum physics and technology worldwide”.

Cirac is director of the theory division at the Max-Planck-Institute for Quantum Optics in Germany.

In conversation with Physics World ’s Michael Banks, Cirac explains how an early interest in mathematics and science fiction drew him to quantum information – along with the field’s potential to create new technologies.

He talks about his collaboration in the 1990s with Peter Zoller to design quantum simulators and computers based on trapped-ion qubits.…