"Unlike the theological hell, the hell of physics, quantum mechanics, is willing to offer us some precious gifts for those things we abandon."
Avshalom Elitzur is an Israeli physicist and philosopher widely regarded as a singular intellectual force in the foundations of reality. Having left school at 16 to work as a laboratory technician, he went on to present an unpublished paper on quantum mechanics at Temple University—an intervention that led to an invitation to Tel Aviv University to pursue doctoral research.
Today, Elitzur is a senior lecturer at the Israeli Institute for Advanced Research, where he works at the intersection of physics and philosophy. His pioneering thought experiment—the Elitzur–Vaidman interaction-free measurement—reshaped debates on the role of the observer in quantum theory and inspired Roger Penrose in Shadows of the Mind.
"A quantum foundations leader" — Perimeter Institute
