What’s the connection between an axolotl and a quantum computer? They have both gained a scientist working in Austria a Fellowship of the Royal Society. Think of membership of the Society as the science equivalent of the “extraordinary lifetime achievement” Oscar, and Elly Tanaka and Peter Zoller have both been awarded such a distinction this year, joining the exalted ranks of the Society’s members.
Elly Tanaka is a biochemist with a research interest in the biology of regeneration. She examines how organisms are able to rebuild complex tissue and organs, along with the genetic conditions required for such reconstruction. The axolotl from Mexico is famed for its regenerative abilities, being able to regrow anything from a limb even to parts of its brain, so her research has been focused on this species. Her findings can be used to develop new kinds of treatment in regenerative medicine. Elly Tanaka has an international reputation as a leading scientist in regenerative biology and is currently Scientific Director at the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (IMBA) in Vienna.
Peter Zoller is a theoretical physicist who laid the central foundations for quantum computing in the 1990s and is considered one of the architects of modern quantum research; his pioneering work on trapped ion technology has had a great impact on the field, for example, and was followed by major experimental findings. His research interests are similarly reflected in his co-founding of the Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (IQOQI) in 2003. Peter Zoller has worked and conducted research with theoretical and experimental groups in eminent international research institutions and is one of the most-cited scientist from Austria. He has been hotly tipped as a candidate for a Nobel Prize in Physics for many years.
The Royal Society was founded in London in 1660. It is the oldest and the most renowned learned society in continuing existence, with members that have included the likes of Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin and Albert Einstein. Previous Austrian Fellows have included Konrad Lorenz, Erwin Schrödinger, Lise Meitner and Eduard Suess, amongst others.
In addition to science prizes, membership of associations such as the Royal Society are also indices of excellent research, so this year’s bag of two fellowships is a feather in the cap for Austria as a research location – there are currently no less than six Fellows currently conducting research in Austria, and the two newly admitted members are working in Life Science and Quantum Computing, fields that will have considerable influence on society in the future.
The “QS University Ranking”, an up-to-date listing of the top universities, was also recently published, and Austrian institutions have vastly improved on their placings from last year (and were even the most improved in the whole of Europe). More than 1,500 institutions were assessed, and six from Austria have made it into the Top 500 – the evaluation criteria of these rankings are also proof positive that Austria is on the right track for academic study, teaching, and research.
