22 July 2026

Over the course of three days, we were happy to share our fascination with quantum physics and emerging technologies at FORSCHA. The Munich science festival, which invites people of all ages to experience knowledge firsthand, took place from 17 to 19 July at the FORUM Schwanthalerhöhe shopping center and welcomed a record number of visitors.

Researchers and students from MCQST showed curious school children and families how light is polarized, invited them to play tic-tac-toe by the rules of quantum physics, and gave visitors the chance to step into a research lab simply by putting on a pair of VR glasses. We used the classic memory game to get visitors engaged with the Quantenpost, a project from our "Light & Matter" exhibition at the Deutsches Museum, where museum visitors asked questions and our researchers answered them. Our Quantum Pocket Guide, explaining superposition and entanglement, continues to be a beloved take-away for many visitors. Researchers Magnus Platena and Marius Staßner from the group of Martin Brandt at TUM, designed an hands-on demonstrator, which illustrates how tiny defects in diamonds called NV centers can be used to "see" magnetic fields by glowing red under green light, getting dimmer when a magnet is nearby. It's a simple, hands-on look at technology that could one day map magnetic fields precisely enough to help develop new drugs, among other things.

On Friday morning, around 2000 school children visited the science fair and got the chance to experience science first hand. On Sunday, there were two big highlights on stage for all FORSCHA visitors interested in quantum physics: a live reading of the play "Alice im Quantenland" by Sofie Silbermann and Veit Ziegelmaier, and a talk by Prof. Johannes Zeiher entitled "Rechnen mit Atomen: Wie wir mit den Bausteinen der Natur komplexe Probleme lösen können."

The MCQST booth was part of a joint booth with all of Munich's excellence clusters, offering insight into the latest research happening at Munich's universities and research centers. We also created a Forschungspass, where visitors collected stamps by visiting each booth and could then choose a giveaway of their own.

We enjoyed the many conversations and insights at the booth, and were, as always, struck by the curiosity of the kids and their thoughtful questions, the engagement of all our visitors, and the chance to witness those aha moments firsthand. Quantum physics could also be explored hands-on at the booths of our colleagues from Munich Quantum Valley and PhotonLab.

FORSCHA was once again a great success, with a new record of 14.500 visitors over the three days.