Library and Yale Quantum Institute celebrate World Quantum Week

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April 14, 2024

World Quantum Day, April 14, is celebrated internationally each year to promote the public understanding of quantum science and technology. (The date, 4/14, is a reference to Planck’s constant, a fundamental principle in quantum mechanics.)

Joining the global effort, Yale Library and the Yale Quantum Institute (YQI) have planned a month of special events and exhibits across campus, beginning Sat., April 13.

“I’m excited to collaborate with YQI for the second time to promote quantum science at Yale,” said Andy Shimp, librarian for Engineering and Applied Science, Chemistry and Mathematics. “We will revisit the successful 2022 pop-up exhibit of rare books on quantum and science. We are also planning to partner on innovative new events, like the hackathon and a quantum app developed with the Digital Humanities Lab.”

This year’s quantum celebration will feature these events and exhibits:

On Sat., April 13, and Sun., April 14, |Y〉Quantum 2024, Yale’s inaugural quantum computing hackathon, will be held in the Young Family Study and other locations in Marx Science and Social Science Library. (Register in advance.)
On Wed., April 17, from 2 to 4 p.m., a pop-up exhibit of rare books about science and quantum will be on display at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Room 38–39. Included will be works by Galileo, Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, and other notables.
On Thurs., April 25, from 4 to 6 p.m., participants will have the chance to test the new art-and-quantum-science application, “ThaumCATrop, A Metaphorical Quantum Search in New Haven.” The app will demonstrate how quantum computers speed up computations as it at the same time reveals some of New Haven’s hidden secrets. YQI and the DHLab collaborated in the development of ThaumCATrop. Participants should bring a laptop, tablet, or smartphone to the event, held in Bass Library; there will also be devices available on site.
The 2023–2024 Model Research Collection, “From DOS to Qiskit: Turning Entanglement into Quantum Computation,” on view in Bass Library, closes on May 6. The collection, curated by Florian Carle, manager of the YQI, documents the rapid advances made in the field of quantum theory since the early 20th century. The collection features selected titles from Yale Library collections and devices from Yale laboratories. The full list of the books in the Model Research Collection “From DOS to Qiskit” is available online.
The online exhibition “Quantum at Yale” is permanently available on the Yale Library website. It includes information about the YQI, profiles of Yale faculty members working in the field of quantum, illustrations of research instruments and equipment, information about career opportunities in quantum science, and more.