Prof. Rainer Blatt

Professor Rainer Blatt is an experimental physicist and Scientific Director of the Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information at the University of Innsbruck. He was the first scientist to perform successful teleportation of atoms whereby the quantum information of one atom is transferred to another. The atoms were placed in an ion trap and manipulated by laser beams. His current research is dedicated to the evolution of a quantum computer.

OUBEY was always convinced that the new territory opened up by quantum research would have at least as radical an impact on the way that we perceive ourselves and the world around us in the coming decades as centuries ago the realization that the planets were ball shaped masses revolving around the sun had when it asserted itself against the rigorous opposition of ecclesiastical dogma. In the past few years a similar change is beginning to shine ever more brightly on the horizon of early scientific investigation.

This is why an encounter between one of OUBEYs paintings and a research scientist in quantum physics stood at the top of our wish list from the very beginning of the Encounter Project. And we have to thank a combination of happy chance and the generous cooperation of Professor Blatt and his team for allowing this encounter to take place in the holy of holies – the research lab of the Innsbruck Institute.

View this Encounter Video and you will not only see the encounter between Professor Blatt and OUBEYs painting but also get a background impression of what goes in experimental quantum physics, a world which is usually concealed from our eyes.