The Spanish quantum physicist Ignacio Cirac from the Max Plank Institute of Quantum Optics in Garching, Germany, has won the 2026 Isaac Newton Medal and Prize for his “pioneering contributions that founded modern quantum information science, uniting profound theoretical insight, experimental vision, and exceptional scientific leadership shaping quantum physics and technology worldwide”. Presented by the Institute of Physics (IOP), which publishes Physics World, the international award is given annually for “world-leading contributions to physics by an individual of any nationality”.
Born in 1965 in Barcelona, Spain, Cirac earned a PhD in physics from the Complutense University of Madrid in 1991. After a stint at the University of Castilla-La Mancha, he then moved to Leopold-Franzens University of Innsbruck in 1996. In 2001 Cirac became director of the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics the US.
Cirac is best known for his work in the 1990s in which he co-developed a proposal for building a quantum computer using trapped ions with Peter Zoller from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
The “Cirac-Zoller” proposal provided an experimentally plausible route from the theoretical idea of a quantum computer to an actual machine with trapped ions remaining one of the leading quantum-computing platforms today.
He also showed how controlled quantum many-body systems can act as simulators to solve difficult problems in physics, chemistry, and materials science.
Cirac and collaborators also pioneered long-distance quantum communication, which included the idea of a quantum repeater that offers a way of distributing entanglement across distances despite losses and imperfections.
Cirac told Physics World that he is “deeply honoured” to receive the award. “I’m very thankful to the people who have made this prize possible – it’s a team working for many years,” says Cirac. “I am immensely grateful to all of them for the privilege of having worked together and for everything we have accomplished along the way.”
Professor Cirac’s pioneering work has helped shape modern quantum information science
IOP president Paul Howarth
Cirac has many other honours to his name including the Wolf Prize in Physics in 2013, the Max Planck Medal in 2018 as well as the inaugural ICTP-IBM Richard Feynman Prize in Quantum Computing.
IOP president Paul Howarth offered his congratulations to Cirac noting that the Spanish physicist is “hugely deserving” of the award and that his influence can be seen not only in the development of quantum science, but “in the generation of researchers who have followed”.
“Professor Cirac’s pioneering work has helped shape modern quantum information science, providing crucial theoretical foundations for advances in quantum computing, simulation and communications,” adds Howarth. “His achievements demonstrate how fundamental physics can expand our understanding of the world while opening up new possibilities for technology.”
Celebrating success
Cirac’s honour forms part of the IOP’s wider 2026 awards, which recognize everyone from early-career scientists and teachers to technicians and subject specialists. Other winners include the school engagement programme Orbyts, which received the Lawrence Bragg Medal and Prize for “outstanding work empowering girls and students from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds in physics education through cutting-edge research partnerships, and supporting physics teachers with novel teaching materials”. Theoretical physicist Michael Berry wins 2025 Isaac Newton Medal and Prize
Sarah Bohndiek from the University of Cambridge has been awarded the Rosalind Franklin Medal and Prize for “pioneering the use of light and sound in early disease detection, with a focus on clinical translation and equitable healthcare outcomes”.
Natalie Lines, a PhD student at the University of Portsmouth, meanwhile, has won the Jocelyn Bell Burnell Medal and Prize for “exceptional early-career contributions to observational cosmology and the application of machine learning to large-scale astronomical surveys, with particular distinction in the field of strong gravitational lensing”.
The full list of 2026 award winners is available here.
