Jian-Wei Pan obtained his Bachelor degree in 1992 and Master degree in 1995 from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), and his Ph.D. in 1999 from the University of Vienna. He continued his stay in Vienna as a senior research associate until 2003, before moving to the University of Heidelberg to start his own independent group. Since 2008, he has been a distinguished Chair Professor in Quantum Optics and Quantum Physics at USTC. He also serves as the chief scientist for one of the five scientific experimental satellites established by the Chinese Academy of Sciences where he leads work on the world’s first quantum science satellite.

Pan’s research interests include quantum optics and quantum information, such as quantum communication, quantum computation and simulation. His systematic work in multi-photon interferometry enables quantum cryptography a viable technology under realistic conditions, forming the basis of existing metropolitan quantum networks operating worldwide today. Pan also led a cross-disciplinary multi-institutional team to develop the satellite Micius dedicated for quantum science experiments, and achieved thousand kilometer quantum key distribution, entanglement distribution and quantum teleportation, which will be central to any global space-based quantum internet. He is a Fellow of OSA and recipient of the R.W. Wood Prize.