It’s the world’s quantum year. How will you celebrate?

Imagine the following scenario: Intelligent aliens arrive on Earth and begin a dialogue with humans about our species. One question we might expect to field is, “What is your best understanding of the rules governing the physical universe?”

A likely reply would be “quantum mechanics,” a theory of wide-ranging applicability that has generated our most accurate, experimentally verified predictions.

But then comes a follow-up question from the aliens: “How many years does each person spend learning this quantum theory?” Our honest reply would be “zero.” The average person is taught almost nothing about quantum mechanics in school or out of it. To the aliens, this might seem paradoxical: How can our species possess such important knowledge, but spend so little time teaching it to one another?

It’s not like quantum mechanics is new. In fact, 2025 marks 100 years since its initial development. But for the average person, “quantum" most likely has made an impression as something obscure, niche, or unintelligible — a word invoked to fill plot holes in science fiction or make products seem both mystical and scientific, rather than a theory that underlies our deepest understanding of natural phenomena and has been instrumental to so many technologies.

This paradox has attracted attention on the global stage. For the first time in its 78-year history, the United Nations General Assembly put quantum mechanics on its agenda: All countries of the world resolved to proclaim 2025 the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology (IYQ).

The official U.N. resolution recommends that IYQ “be observed through activities at all levels aimed at increasing public awareness of the importance of quantum science and applications.” However, the resolution also stresses that the costs and implementation of all activities should be met from “voluntary contributions.”

In other words, for the 2025 centennial of quantum mechanics, the world’s nations want to shrink the knowledge gap between those who know something about quantum science and those who do not, and they are hoping that someone, somewhere, can step up and help.

This is where the readers of APS News come in. Today, only a small percentage of people grasp how central quantum science has become to our understanding of nature and to our technology, and readers of this publication are disproportionately members of this group. To make the year a success, the people in this group should take time in 2025 to help others share in this understanding.

If your reaction to this request is to create a public-facing quantum event or post online resources, thank you. (You’re encouraged to use the IYQ logo to brand your efforts and submit events or resources at the main IYQ website quantum2025.org to be promoted.)

But if you’re unsure how and whether you can help with this global request, let me address a few sticking points I commonly encounter when people weigh whether to do outreach projects.

First, you might feel an aversion to doing outreach, or believe you’re not very good at it. Aside from the standard responses — “You might like it if you try it” or “You get better with practice” — your self-assessment might be entirely correct. But even if you’re not doing the outreach, you can still be a helpful facilitator for those who do.

I’ve encountered many physics students at both the undergraduate and graduate levels who are keen to introduce others to their field through outreach, but who don’t get the sense that this work is valued in their academic or research environments. In these cases, small acts that set the tone matter. Think of an instructor who gives students an assignment to explain a quantum concept in a non-technical way, a PI who sets aside 1% of their group’s time for a public-facing project, or a department head who allocates resources for people at their institution to use on quantum outreach. All are materially helping with the global effort and signaling to others that they value this work, even if they’re not doing it directly themselves.

A second hesitation is that explaining quantum science to others is hard to do. The challenging nature of the topic is the main reason why it’s largely absent from schools. However, we’re not necessarily aiming to teach quantum mechanics to the public. Rather, we’re just trying to improve people’s awareness of the importance of quantum science and give them one or two things to hold onto about how it affects their lives.

I find it useful to compare quantum mechanics to DNA, the importance of which has also come to the fore over the past 100 years. Most people are not microbiologists, but they know DNA exists, understand that it’s central to biology in general and their own biology in particular, and are aware of a few facts about it and its impacts. Their knowledge may not be deep or technical, but their awareness is a starting point from which they can learn more.

In getting to the same place with quantum mechanics, which is central to our understanding of the physical world in general and to many things around us in particular, a challenge is that unlike DNA, quantum mechanics is not a physical object one can point at; it’s an abstract set of rules. Here, I think the most useful approach is to start by pointing to an object or process — something relevant to you or your audience — and explaining how and why quantum mechanics helps us understand it more deeply.

In thinking about things to point to and stories to tell, a third trap that people sometimes fall into is worrying about what is and isn’t quantum. A question like, “Why does the sun shine?” can be addressed without invoking anything quantum, but it is also the case that quantum science can deepen our answer. A quantum computer is so called because it exploits aspects of quantum entanglement in its operation, but it can mislead people into thinking that the “classical” computers they use every day have nothing to do with quantum science, when, in fact, their operational principles, from the processor to the screen, have been aided in their creation and refinement by quantum understanding.

Rather than think about what is or isn’t quantum, think about how quantum science has been helpful. In the spirit of a 100th birthday party where you would reflect on all the large and small ways the centenarian has touched your and others’ lives, consider some of the ways quantum science has touched the world around you (or might in the future) and help others see this.

A final objection to outreach is that you don’t know enough about quantum science to communicate it to others. But understanding a vast topic like quantum science and technology is not binary. No one is an expert in all things quantum; you just have to know one or two things more than the person you’re talking to. You may not understand how quantum mechanics is relevant to the working principles of solar fusion or transistors, but if you understand that it is relevant, this information is still valuable to communicate.

In fact, foregrounding your (and humanity’s) ignorance about quantum science is often a better place to start than playing the role of an authoritative expert. Collectively, we’ve explored the surprising quantum landscape for a century, but there is still much we don’t know or understand; many possibilities and advances await discovery. It is not just the quantum accomplishments of the past 100 years we can share, but the excitement and promise of an unknown future.

In considering what you might do to help, keep in mind that the grand scale of a global year might make it seem as though the U.N. is expecting commensurately grand events. While there are large-scale events being planned, starting with the IYQ opening ceremonies in Paris, don’t discount the impact that small, intimate events and gestures can have. Setting up an informational table for an hour in a public area, posting a few “Did you know” quantum facts on a message board, or advertising your willingness to answer basic questions from students, journalists, or anyone else can start lots of conversations.

In a world where the success of information transfer is often measured in millions of views or clicks, the deepest impression is often made through in-person interactions between just a few people. Simply sharing a story or fact — one that might bolster a person’s appreciation for the workings of the world, one that they can then tell others — can cause knowledge to spread well beyond the initial interaction.

Here’s one fact I’ve used recently: When you stand outside in the sun, you’re hit by around a billion trillion photons (i.e., light quanta) each second. Every 10 seconds or so, one of the photons that hits you is arriving from one of the most distant galaxies we’ve ever discovered. It’s only because we now know these quanta exist — and have developed technology, now deployed in telescopes, that can carefully count them — that we’re able to image these faraway galaxies for the first time in just the past year.

There are more than 100 years of quantum stories to choose from, many of which haven’t been widely communicated. Consider it your gift for a global birthday party to tell one of them this year.

The views expressed in interviews and in opinion pieces, like the Opinion page, are not necessarily those of APS. APS News welcomes letters responding to these and other issues.