QPLAYLEARN INITIATIVE
Sailing Quantum Tour
Imagine this: a quantum physics professor, driven by her passion for sailing and quantum physics, embarks on a solo sailing expedition for an entire year circumnavigating the coasts of Italy. And during the journey, in every stop offering her safe harbour, she unveils in public lectures the wonders of quantum physics and new quantum technologies.
Well well dear readers this is how the Sailing Quantum Tour began!
After months of preparation, in a Sunday of October 2023, Paola Verrucchi —professor of quantum foundations, quantum information and quantum computation at the Università degli Studi di Firenze and researcher at the Institute for Complex Systems of CNR— started her solo sailing adventure around Italy on board Whisper, a small but elegant sailboat which had travelled the sea at a gentle pace with more than 70 stops along the way.
Until September 2024, Paola —with the remote help of the rest of the QPlayLearn team and the presential support of the Italian Lega Navale— has brought to a wider audience the wonders of quantum research, in schools or in public lectures open to everyone.
August 29 marked the arrival in Trieste, the final stop of the tour, amidst excitement and wonder. And on September 6, after 343 days on board and 2240 miles sailed, Paola and Whisper were welcomed home, in the very place where the tour began: in Portoferraio, Isola D’Elba.
This extraordinary initiative has been supported by Algorithmiq.
Fun fact about this project:
What makes this project even more special to us is the genesis of the idea itself, which developed during a lunch in a trattoria in Florence where Paola was telling Sabrina and Caterina about the final preparations for her sailing trip. “Why don't we make it a Sailing Quantum Tour?” And so, the idea took off, in the wake of the first Quantum Sailing Conference, organised in May 2023 around Isola D’ Elba, and in the same spirit as initiatives such as the Quantum Hiking workshop, other sui generis quantum adventures previously sponsored by Algorithmiq.
Paola, may the wind always be at your back! ⛵
Information for Schools, Municipalities and Organisations
Although the actual navigation of the Sailing Quantum Tour came to an end, the mission of spreading the wonders of quantum physics doesn’t stop: the post tour round is already taking place!
In each city, where Paola will travel, and in each port where Whisper will be docked, whether large or small, Paola may offer lectures/meetings for school students and public conferences open and suitable for all, to explain in a simple —yet rigorous— way the basic principles of quantum mechanics and to introduce the novelties that the latest technologies have in store for society, from quantum computers to cryptography, from teleportation to quantum biology.
Do you wish to meet Paola and organise an event to hear about quantum science and the chronicles from the SQT?
Contact us at contact@qplaylearn.com or using the form below!
If you are curious about Paola & Whisper’s daily adventures, you can follow them here:
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