Quantum scientist David Awschalom to present 13th Patrusky Lecture
David Awschalom plans to share his insights about how quantum information science and technology are reshaping our everyday lives when he delivers the 13th annual Patrusky Lecture at ScienceWriters2025 in Chicago. This keynote address is sponsored by the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing (CASW), as part of New Horizons in Science, CASW’s annual briefing on emerging research and issues in science.
In his talk on Nov. 8 at the Chicago Marriott O’Hare, Awschalom will address the ways quantum technology is poised to impact much of society, including medicine, materials science, energy, online security and finance—so much so that UNESCO declared 2025 the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology.
Chicago—which CASW and its partner, the National Association of ScienceWriters (NASW), selected as the host of their joint conference—has long been a hub of quantum science. The city will also be home to the 2025 Chicago Quantum Summit Nov 3-4, just ahead of ScienceWriters.
Awschalom will de-mystify the peculiarities of quantum physics, which he promises isn’t as tricky as it seems. It’s often misunderstood, though: Quantum computers, for one, aren’t always faster than classical ones. The quantum leap isn’t like adding a new transistor to an old machine, but rather a paradigm shift in how the machines work, from a binary system to one that can hold near-infinite information.
“Dr. Awshalom is known for his deep insights into quantum technology, along with his ability to explain them cogently,” says CASW President Richard Harris. “We are delighted that he will be joining us Saturday morning to kick off our weekend-long program.”
Awschalom is the Liew Family Professor of Molecular Engineering and Physics at the University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, the first school in the U.S. to focus on quantum engineering. He is also the founding director of the University of Chicago-based Chicago Quantum Exchange, an intellectual hub in Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana that advances the science and engineering of quantum information, prepares the quantum workforce, and drives the quantum economy in collaboration with leading universities, national labs and industry partners. In addition, he is a senior scientist at Argonne National Laboratory and inaugural director of the lab’s quantum information science research collaboration, Q-NEXT.
His research interests include exploring and controlling the spins of electrons, nuclei and photons in semiconductors and molecules. The work has potential applications in quantum computing, communication and sensing.
Awschalom received a bachelor’s in physics from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a doctorate in experimental physics from Cornell University. He worked at the IBM Watson Research Center before joining the faculty of the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1991. He has received honors including the American Physical Society Oliver Buckley Prize and Julius Edgar Lilienfeld Prize, the European Physical Society Europhysics Prize, the Materials Research Society David Turnbull Award and Outstanding Investigator Prize, the American Association for the Advancement of Science Newcomb Cleveland Prize, the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics International Magnetism Prize, an IBM Outstanding Innovation Award and the U.S. Secretary of Energy Achievement Award. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering and the European Academy of Sciences.
CASW launched the Patrusky Lectures in 2013 to honor Ben Patrusky, executive director of CASW for 25 years and director of the New Horizons in Science program for 30 years.
