In the span of four decades, quantum computation has evolved from an intellectual curiosity to a potentially realisable technology.
While classical computing has transformed science and society, quantum technologies may enable an even deeper shift, including the simulation of complex quantum systems, efficient factorisation of large numbers, and new approaches to hard optimisation problems.
Members of the media are invited to the opening session of the 2026 Nobel in Africa – Nobel Symposium in Physics, where 2025 Physics Nobel Prize Laureate John Martinis will deliver a lecture titled, "From prehistoric qubits to building a useful quantum computer". Martinis, from the University of California, Santa Barbara, will describe his work on macroscopic quantum tunnelling and energy-level quantisation that led to the Nobel Prize.
He will also describe several other important experiments that advanced superconducting quantum bits, or qubits, the basic units of quantum information, and show how the road to scaling could be paved by adopting existing semiconductor technology to build much higher-quality qubits and by employing system engineering approaches.
Martinis, together with John Clarke and Michel Devoret, were awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics for discovering macroscopic quantum tunnelling and energy quantisation in electrical circuits, which laid the foundational groundwork for modern superconducting qubits.
The opening session marks the start of the 5-day Nobel Symposium on Quantum Computing, which will be the sixth symposium in the Nobel in Africa series at STIAS.
DATE: Monday, 26 October 2026
TIME: 08:00 to 11:00
VENUE: STIAS Wallenberg Research Centre, 10 Marais Road, Stellenbosch
LIVESTREAM: https://www.youtube.com/@stias_advancedstudy/streams
This Nobel Symposium will bring together leading researchers in quantum information science, condensed matter physics, computer science, and engineering in closed sessions, public lectures and outreach activities. The symposium will assess the current state and future potential of quantum technologies, with a focus on key challenges and opportunities.
Central questions include:
- Which problems can quantum computers realistically solve?
- How can scalable quantum architectures be achieved?
- How should we rethink modelling, simulation, and the concept of computation in light of quantum principles?
The second Nobel Laureate attending the 2026 Nobel Symposium in Physics is Alain Aspect from the Institut d’Optique - Université Paris-Saclay, who was awarded the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics alongside John F. Clauser and Anton Zeilinger. Their collective work proved the reality of quantum entanglement and effectively birthed the field of quantum information science.
Aspect will deliver the Stellenbosch University Chancellor’s Lecture titled, “The two quantum revolutions: From concepts to applications”.
In this lecture, Aspect will discuss the first quantum revolution, which is based on wave-particle duality, and has led to the society of information and communication. He will also discuss the second quantum revolution, which is based on entanglement and explore whether applications will lead to a new societal revolution.
The Stellenbosch University Chancellor’s Public Lecture will take place as follows:
DATE: Tuesday, 27 October 2026
TIME: 18:00 to 21:00
VENUE: Endler Hall, Victoria Street, Stellenbosch
RSVP: https://www.su.ac.za/events
Members of the media are also invited to outreach lectures and discussions on Wednesday, 28 October:
- Beyond AI: The quantum future of computing, a public talk by Matthias Troyer from Microsoft, will take place at the Road House Cinema, Neelsie Student Centre, Stellenbosch University, 10:30 – 12:00.
- How can we trust a quantum computer? A public talk by Elham Kashefi from the National Quantum Computing Centre, UK and a panel discussion titled Quantum science in the age of AI with Maria Schuld and Ryan Sweke will be held at the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences, 6 Melrose Road, Muizenberg, 10:00 – 12:00.
- Quantum computing: the next half century, a public talk by Seth Lloyd from MIT and On the road to quantum advantage, by John Preskill from the California Institute of Technology, will be held in the Auditorium, Brian O’Connell Life Sciences Building at the University of the Western Cape, 10:30 – 12:00.
For more information, interviews and images contact:
Noloyiso Mtembu – noloyisom@sun.ac.za/ 082 389 3370.
