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Editorial
The pioneering age
70 years ago, the world witnessed a premiere: on 12 May 1941, Konrad Zuse presented the Z3 and, thus, a functioning digital computer. He was not the only pioneer of his time. There were Howard Hathaway Aiken, John Atanasoff and Thomas Harold Flowers, among others, who, during the 1940s, all developed or constructed early computers such as the Mark I or Colossus.
Today, bright minds have once again embarked on developing a new generation of calculating machines. They no longer deal with punch tapes, relays and electronic tubes, however, but with the bizarre world of quanta. At Jülich, a large number of experts have joined forces to reach new breakthroughs with the quantum computer. In our cover story, six of these Jülich pioneers talk about the challenges they have to overcome and why Forschungszentrum Jülich offers an ideal environment for this.
Uncharted waters are also to be sailed in other areas: read about what we can learn from nature in the construction of power grids, why the bird brain is more complex than previously assumed, and why new technologies could lead to a renaissance of European photovoltaics.
We hope you enjoy this issue,
Your effzett editorial team
The magazine effzett is also available as a PDF file. Authors of this issue: Marcel Bülow, Dr. Janosch Deeg, Dr. Frank Frick, Christian Hohlfeld, Anke Krüger, Dr. Jens Kube, Katja Lüers, Dr. Regine Panknin, Dr. Arndt Reuning, Dr. Barbara Schunk, Brigitte Stahl-Busse, Angela Wenzik, Erhard Zeiss.
PHOTO: Cordelia Craigie MONTAGE: SeitenPlan