The heritage

The economic and environmental impacts of the home are becoming an important issue for families. On the one hand, price increases caused by new global political and social dynamics, and on the other, the requirements imposed by public authorities in terms of energy efficiency and sustainability certifications are increasing interest in solutions that support property management, even for small owners or tenants of residential units. New digital tools, known as PropTech, are becoming increasingly widespread, accessible and easy to use, even for non-professional users. With low costs and minor property adjustments, it is now possible to measure and optimise energy consumption through apps, control condominium administration costs, connect with a network of maintenance workers and technicians who can handle scheduled or unscheduled repairs, as well as meet neighbours and share information and activities to make your home safer and more welcoming and build a cohesive community.

The first studies in the field of quantum mechanics were carried out a century ago and immediately changed the way we perceive reality. Pioneering research in this field has allowed us to explore the universe around us on scales that were previously inaccessible. These analyses led to the discovery of fundamental laws of nature and revealed bizarre and exotic behaviours that arise in interactions between elementary particles such as electrons, the fundamental building blocks of matter with electric charge, or photons, the ultimate constituents of light but without mass. Today, modern physics is seeking to transform the laws of quantum mechanics into opportunities, even though they often appear complex and elusive, as they are far removed from our everyday experience. Researchers have set themselves an ambitious challenge: to create entirely new technologies that, starting from quantum mechanics, can exceed the performance and limits of the most modern solutions and application methodologies.

It may seem curious, but the physical principles underlying certain natural processes are the same ones that drive, for example, the superconducting circuits of quantum computers! However, it is not possible to see these principles at work “with our own eyes”, but only their final result, be it a growing tree or the breaking of cryptographic codes. In this meeting, I will start from the world around us (which we can see with our own eyes!) and try to take you to the “heart of quantum mechanics”: the phenomenon of interference. To paraphrase Feynman, in explaining how this phenomenon “works”, this video gives us the opportunity to talk about the basic peculiarities of quantum mechanics and how these have led to technological applications that we use every day, sometimes without even knowing it. We will thus discover that reality is fantasy, where even a leaf is no longer just a leaf…

Light is all around us, and its role in future technology goes far beyond illumination. Thanks to quantum mechanics, we can exploit its properties to revolutionise the way we communicate, calculate and measure the world. From quantum computers, capable of solving problems that are impossible for traditional computers, to secure information transmission, to extremely precise sensors that could revolutionise medicine and industry, we will explore how the science of light and quantum phenomena are transforming contemporary technology.