Stephanie Dorothea Christine Wehner (born 8 May 1977 in

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is a city in the region of Franconia in the north of the German state of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the ''Regierungsbezirk'' Lower Franconia. It spans the banks of the Main River. Würzburg ...

) is a German

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

and computer scientist. She is the Roadmap Leader of the Quantum Internet and Networked Computing initiative at QuTech,

Delft University of Technology Delft University of Technology ( nl, Technische Universiteit Delft), also known as TU Delft, is the oldest and largest Dutch public technical university, located in Delft, Netherlands. As of 2022 it is ranked by QS World University Rankings among ...

. She is also known for introducing the noisy-storage model in

quantum cryptography Quantum cryptography is the science of exploiting quantum mechanical properties to perform cryptographic tasks. The best known example of quantum cryptography is quantum key distribution which offers an information-theoretically secure solution ...

. Wehner's research focuses mainly on

and

quantum communications Quantum information science is an interdisciplinary field that seeks to understand the analysis, processing, and transmission of information using quantum mechanics principles. It combines the study of Information science with quantum mechanics, qu ...

. Wehner, together with Jonathan Oppenheim, discovered that the amount of non-locality in

quantum mechanics Quantum mechanics is a fundamental theory in physics that provides a description of the physical properties of nature at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles. It is the foundation of all quantum physics including quantum chemistr ...

is limited by the

uncertainty principle In quantum mechanics, the uncertainty principle (also known as Heisenberg's uncertainty principle) is any of a variety of mathematical inequalities asserting a fundamental limit to the accuracy with which the values for certain pairs of physic ...

Education and early life

She studied at the

University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, nl, Universiteit van Amsterdam) is a public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The UvA is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other being ...

and obtained her Ph.D. at CWI. Following this she moved to

Caltech The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

as a postdoctoral researcher (under

John Preskill John Phillip Preskill (born January 19, 1953) is an American theoretical physicist and the Richard P. Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics at the California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech ...

). Wehner was involved in

computer security Computer security, cybersecurity (cyber security), or information technology security (IT security) is the protection of computer systems and networks from attack by malicious actors that may result in unauthorized information disclosure, t ...

, for example kernel

rootkit A rootkit is a collection of computer software, typically malicious, designed to enable access to a computer or an area of its software that is not otherwise allowed (for example, to an unauthorized user) and often masks its existence or the exis ...

s, and worked as a professional

hacker A hacker is a person skilled in information technology who uses their technical knowledge to achieve a goal or overcome an obstacle, within a computerized system by non-standard means. Though the term ''hacker'' has become associated in popu ...

Research

From 2010 to 2014, Wehner was an

assistant professor Assistant Professor is an academic rank just below the rank of an associate professor used in universities or colleges, mainly in the United States and Canada. Overview This position is generally taken after earning a doctoral degree A docto ...

and later associate professor at the department of computer science at the National University of Singapore and a Principal Investigator at the

Centre for Quantum Technologies The Centre for Quantum Technologies (CQT) in Singapore is a Research Centre of Excellence hosted by the National University of Singapore. The Centre brings together physicists, computer scientists and engineers to do basic research on quantum phy ...

. In 2014, she started as associate professor at QuTech,

and as of 2016 she is

Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Antonie Philips van Leeuwenhoek ( ; ; 24 October 1632 – 26 August 1723) was a Dutch microbiologist and microscopist in the Golden Age of Dutch science and technology. A largely self-taught man in science, he is commonly known as " the ...

professor at the

QCRYPT conference

In 2011, Wehner and others founded the QCRYPT conference series. The latest conference was organised in the Shanghai International Conference Center, Shanghai.

Quantum Internet Alliance

Stephanie Wehner is the coordinator of the Quantum Internet Alliance which was awarded ten million Euros in October 2018 by the European Commission. Commenting on the award, Wehner said: "This grant allows us to speed up in order to keep Europe at the front of this fascinating field of research and technology development”.

Publications

Her publications include: * Oppenheim, Jonathan, and Stephanie Wehner. "The uncertainty principle determines the nonlocality of quantum mechanics." ''Science'' 330.6007 (2010): 1072–1074. *Hensen, Bas, et al. "Loophole-free Bell inequality violation using electron spins separated by 1.3 kilometres." ''Nature''526.7575 (2015): 682.

Awards

Ammodo Science Award in 2019

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wehner, Stephanie 1977 births 21st-century German physicists 21st-century German women scientists Academic staff of the Delft University of Technology German computer criminals German computer scientists German women physicists Living people Scientists from Würzburg University of Amsterdam alumni German women computer scientists