2023 Hans J. Briegel

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FWF Wittgenstein Awards

Hans J. Briegel

Austria’s most highly endowed research award

With nominees named by the scientific community, winners selected by an international jury of experts, and a €1.5 million endowment that exceeds all other individual funding awards in Austria, the FWF Wittgenstein Award is unique in every respect. With this award, the FWF not only honors exceptional academic careers, but also offers researchers the resources they need to advance their own research work at the highest international level.

Gruppenbild der FWF-START und Wittgenstein-Preisträger — Setting the stage for outstanding research: The researchers accepting their awards at the formal award ceremony © Daniel Novotny/FWF

Target group

The funding program is aimed at outstanding researchers from all disciplines.

Funding goals

The program provides both recognition and support to excellent researchers (up to 60 years of age) who have already produced exceptional work and who occupy a prominent place in the international scientific community.

Funding period and funding amount

60 months
€1.5 million

Hans J. Briegel 2023

The 2023 FWF Wittgenstein Award went to the German physicist Hans J. Briegel (*1962). Briegel has pioneered research at the interface of quantum technology and artificial intelligence, including the development of a one-way quantum computer. In particular, Briegel wants to develop transparent AI systems to help understand their results and create new opportunities in basic research. He is one of the most active and creative researchers in the field of quantum physics, in which Austria plays a leading role. Briegel has been at the University of Innsbruck since 2003 and, among other positions, has served for many years as Scientific Director at the Institute of Quantum Optics and Quantum Information of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (OeAW).