Eugene S. Polzik, Professor of Physics, Niels Bohr Institute at Copenhagen University, is an experimental quantum physicist who has made ground breaking contributions within quantum optics with emphasis on quantum state engineering and control of light and matter.

Polzik received M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Physics from Leningrad University in 1976 and 1980, respectively. Upon completion of his Ph.D., he became an associate professor of physics at the Mining Institute in Leningrad. Since then, he has held a number of positions at California Institute of Technology, the University of Aarhus, Institute Henri Poincare, the Institute for Photonic Sciences in Barcelona, and the Niels Bohr Institute in Denmark.

He has had more than 160 papers published in refereed journals and given over 150 plenary or invited talks. His research has helped to lead the development of quantum optics throughout Europe, which includes his  leadership of the QUROPE project from 2006-2009. In Denmark, he established the first quantum-optics lab, and later the QUANTOP at the University of Copenhagen. 

Polzik has received many awards for his work, including the Danish Physical Society Prize, the Scientific American Research Leadership Award, the Gordon Moore Distinguished Scholar Award, two European Research Council Advanced Grant Awards, and the Danish Academic Association Research Prize in Natural Sciences. He is a Fellow of OSA, the American Physical Society, and the Institute of Physics, UK. He is a member of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, and has been selected as a Danish Research Result of the Year.