Last week, Physics World’s Matin Durrani boarded a ferry in Hamburg that was bound for Helgoland – an archipelago in the North Sea about 70 km off the north-west coast of Germany.

It was a <a href="https://physicsworld.com/a/return-to-helgoland-celebrating-100-years-of-quantum-mechanics/">century ago in Helgoland</a> that the physicist Werner Heisenberg devised the mathematical framework that underpins our understanding of quantum physics.
Matin was there with some of the world&#8217;s leading quantum physicists for the conference <a href="https://indico.mpl.mpg.de/event/17/">Helgoland 2025: 100 Years of Quantum Mechanics</a> – which celebrated Heisenberg’s brief stay in Helgoland.
He caught up with three eminent physicists and asked them to reflect on Heisenberg’s contributions to quantum mechanics and look forward to the next 100 years of quantum science and technology. They are <a href="https://prieview.univie.ac.at/research-groups/tracy-northup/">Tracy Northup</a> at the University of Vienna; <a href="https://www.unsw.edu.au/staff/michelle-simmons">Michelle Simmons</a> of the University of New South Wales, Sydney; and <a href="https://www.ictp.it/external/professor-peter-zoller">Peter Zoller</a> of the University of Innsbruck.
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This article forms part of Physics World&#8216;s contribution to the <a title="https://quantum2025.org/en/about/" href="https://quantum2025.org/en/about/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">2025 International Year of Quantum Science and Technology</a> (IYQ), which aims to raise global awareness of quantum physics and its applications.
Stayed tuned to Physics World and our international partners throughout the next 12 months for more coverage of the IYQ.
<a href="https://physicsworld.com/c/quantum/">Find out more on our quantum channel.</a>

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