‘To do something nobody’s done’: quantum physicist Zhu Zijie leaves Europe for China

Science and Nature are among the world’s most prestigious journals, which most scientists strive to publish in but never will.By the age of 30, quantum physicist Zhu Zijie had already published in both with significant discoveries on the behaviour of cold atoms.After graduating from Peking University, he went to the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich) – Albert Einstein’s alma mater – for graduate studies and stayed there as a postdoctoral researcher for over a year.In March, Zhu returned to China from Switzerland to join Fudan University as a Xianghui Young Scholar and associate professor at the Xianghui Academy.The name “Xianghui” honours two founding figures of Fudan University, Ma Xiangbo and Li Denghui. The programme aims to attract outstanding overseas scientists, particularly early-career researchers, to join Fudan.Zhu’s interest in physics began with a popular science book. One afternoon in junior school, he found a small book on the family bookshelf that discussed Newtonian mechanics and Einstein’s theory of relativity – sparking his curiosity about the physical world.