Quantum pioneer: Ignacio Cirac is best known for his work developing a proposal to build a quantum computer using trapped ions. (Courtesy: Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics)

The Spanish quantum physicist Ignacio Cirac from the Max Plank Institute of Quantum Optics in Garching , Germany, has won the 2026 Isaac Newton Medal and Prize 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”. Presented by the Institute of Physics (IOP), which publishes Physics World , the international award is given annually for “world-leading contributions to physics by an individual of any nationality”.

Born in 1965 in Barcelona, Spain, Cirac earned a PhD in physics from the Complutense University of Madrid in 1991. After a stint at the University of Castilla-La Mancha, he then moved to Leopold-Franzens University of Innsbruck in 1996.…