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Ilmenau celebrates 100 years of quantum mechanics: lecture series starting soon!
Ilmenau University of Technology will start the “Quants in Ilmenau” lecture series on April 29, 2025 to mark the 100th anniversary of quantum mechanics.
Ilmenau celebrates 100 years of quantum mechanics: lecture series starting soon!
On April 29, 2025, the Technical University of Ilmenau will start a lecture series entitled “Quants in Ilmenau”. This event marks the centenary of quantum mechanics and will continue until July 2025. Professor Thomas Fröhlich opens the series with a lecture on the Planck balance and the new kilogram definition. The lectures are given by scientists from the university and take place in the lecture hall of the Faraday Building tu-ilmenau.de reported.
Quantum mechanics, which was formulated by Werner Heisenberg in 1925 and won him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1932, forms the basis for modern technologies such as computer chips, solar cells and magnetic resonance imaging. The lecture series is part of the “International Year of Quantum Science and Quantum Technologies”, a project launched by the United Nations that aims to make the findings of quantum physics accessible to a broad audience.
Lecture series in detail
The following topics and speakers are also planned as part of this series:
- 06.05.2025: Prof. Hannes Töpfer – „Energieeffiziente Mikroelektronik mit Supraleitern“
- 27.05.2025: Prof. Jörg Kröger – Thema „Materiewellen“
- 10.06.2025: Prof. Thomas Hannappel – Thema „Solarenergie“
- 24.06.2025: Prof. Siegfried Stapf – Thema „Kernspinresonanz“
- 08.07.2025: Prof. Stefan Krischok – Thema „Photoeffekt“
Admission to all events is free.
A central aspect of Professor Fröhlich's lecture will be the newly defined measurement of the kilogram. In 2018, the kilogram was redefined to be independent of a physical object, the original kilogram made of platinum and iridium. This original kilogram, which has been kept in Paris since 1889, has lost weight over the years. By 2018, the loss was almost 50 millionths of a gram, resulting in minimal inaccuracies in scales used worldwide. To counteract these problems, the new definition of the kilogram is based on Planck's constant, such as entwicklungspraxis.vogel.de explained.
The Planck balance, developed by the TU Ilmenau in collaboration with the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), enables mass measurements with high precision without the need for a physical reference object. It works on the basis of electromagnetic force compensation, which makes it a self-calibrating measuring device. A first prototype of the scale was ready for use at the end of 2017.
Technological implications
The new kilogram definition and the Planck balance are not just academic concepts but have far-reaching practical implications. Instead of relying on a changing physical object, measurements can now be defined by universal constants of nature. The change is the result of decades of international collaboration and is supported by several institutes, including CERN. The value of the Planck constant was fixed at 6.626070150 × 10−34 kg⋅m²/s, which prevents future calibrations due to changing reference blocks from becoming necessary, such as home.cern reported.
The developments in quantum mechanics and the definition of the kilogram illustrate the rapid progress in physical science and set new standards for accuracy in measurement technology. Where this progress takes us will certainly be discussed in the upcoming lectures in the series.