September 28, 2025

On Friday 26 September, the Rei Jaume I Prizes Foundation celebrated European Science Night, focusing on Quantum Science and Technology. The Foundation’s scientific director, José Bernabéu, played an active role in the event, little knowing that it would be his last public appearance. We mourn his sudden passing and pay tribute to him with this final account of his passion: physics.

The Foundation discusses Quantum Technology at European Science Night

Valencia, 26 September 2025  The Rei Jaume I Prizes Foundation celebrated European Science Night with an event dedicated to Quantum Science and Technology, led by José Bernabéu, winner of the 2008 Rei Jaume I Prize for Basic Research.

For Bernabéu, ‘quantum mechanics was not the work of a single genius, but rather the result of decades of confusion, advances and setbacks, demonstrating that science is built by combining ideas and observations.’ He made these statements during the Quantum Science and Technology conference, held at the FVPRJ to commemorate European Science Night. He believes that there are several difficulties in interpreting physics because it uses a different language: ‘It uses mathematical language.’ According to scientists, ‘The scientific method is used to study the behavior of the natural world when it is observed.  In 1931, Bohr said in Cambridge that the quantum world is how nature behaves when it is observed. In this International Quantum Year, we are celebrating the fact that this began around 100 years ago’. Bernabéu also said that ‘the atom is practically empty, yet they do not overlap in space.’

The day began with a presentation by Jesús Navarro, a professor at the Institute of Corpuscular Physics (IFIC), who discussed the experiments that established quantum physics as a distinct field of study. ‘During the 20th century, Einstein, Bohr and de Broglie provided theoretical confirmation of Max Planck’s theory. The experiments that established quantum mechanics were conducted in the second half of the 20th century. Now it is used in mobile phones and many other technologies,’ said Professor Navarro.

Mª Carmen Bañuls, a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics in Munich, then spoke about the results of an experiment voted the most beautiful in the world by scientists. Dr Bañuls explained the double-slit experiment, which ‘demonstrates some of the most fundamental concepts of quantum mechanics’.

For Dr. Bañuls, ‘the experiment that followed the one demonstrating that light is both a wave and a particle showed that observing where the electron goes alters the results’.

He stated that ‘this year, the same experiment was carried out using more sophisticated techniques, and that electrons, which are particles, continued to behave like particles. Now, large molecules or nanoparticles have been fixed in place and, when they collide with electrons, the duality is maintained. Quantum mechanics explain this because waves overlap, and electrons move in a wave-like manner. Therefore, we can only know where the electron is or how it moves, but not at the same time,’ Bañuls confirmed.

German researcher argues that ‘unlike Newton, who believed that light was made up of corpuscles, and Huygens, who believed that it was made up of waves, light acts as both a wave and particles when a double slit is placed in front of it. In other words, light behaves like waves, as with sound, and like particles, as with throwing balls. When this is done with electrons, which are particles, they must be in different waves.’ Quantum mechanics explains this result because waves overlap, and electrons move in a wave-like manner. This means that we can only know where an electron is or how it moves, but not at the same time. In other words, light exhibits wave-like and particle-like properties. When this is done with electrons, which are particles, they must be in different waves.’

Alberto Casas, a research professor at the Institute of Nuclear Physics (IFT) of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), spoke about its use for storing and transporting information: ‘It is important for computer construction. In quantum information theory, particles may exist in two states simultaneously. However, when observed, state collapse occurs. When you observe it, it remains in one state; for the overlap to be maintained, you must use particles’.

Casas also argued that ‘observing two entangled particles means that if one particle is in a certain position, the entangled particle will replicate that position, as information is transmitted faster than the speed of light. This transmission is something we cannot explain,’ he acknowledged.

Finally, Alba Cervera, who works at the Supercomputer Centre in Barcelona on creating a free public quantum computer, explained that ‘quantum computers are necessary for studying quantum physics, and supercomputers are a solution to the limitations of conventional computers.’ The other option, she said, ‘is to build a quantum computer.’