The city of Innsbruck has awarded its Ring of Honor to experimental physicist Francesca Ferlaino. The award is one of the city’s highest honors and recognizes individuals who have rendered outstanding service to Innsbruck or enhanced the city’s reputation both at home and abroad.
At a ceremony held in the Kaisersaal of the Stiftskeller in Innsbruck on Thursday, November 5, Mayor Johannes Anzengruber presented quantum physicist Francesca Ferlaino with the City of Innsbruck’s Ring of Honor. With this award, the city recognizes Ferlaino’s outstanding research achievements and her contribution to raising Innsbruck’s profile as a leading international center for quantum physics. There are now 84 recipients of the City of Innsbruck’s Ring of Honor, including ten women—Francesca Ferlaino is the youngest woman among them.
“Citizens are a city’s greatest treasure. A city can only function with citizens who are actively involved in it, who stand up for their fellow citizens, or who champion their city and take on responsibility. They ensure that a city remains vibrant and a great place to live,” emphasized Innsbruck Mayor Johannes Anzengruber as he congratulated the honorees: “This awards ceremony is dedicated to you. The award you are receiving today is a small appreciation for your contributions.”
According to Innsbruck municipal law, the Ring of Honor is awarded by the City Council to individuals who have rendered outstanding service to the city through exceptional achievements or exemplary fulfillment of their duties, or who have enhanced the city’s reputation at home or abroad. It is one of the city’s highest honors. The Ring of Honor was first awarded in 1931.
Quantum Phenomena at Ultra-Low Temperatures
Francesca Ferlaino studies quantum phenomena in atomic gases at temperatures just above absolute zero. Among other achievements, she and her team succeeded in producing the world’s first Bose-Einstein condensate of erbium atoms. Her pioneering work on supersolid states—an exotic form of matter that exhibits properties of both a solid and a frictionlessly flowing liquid—has also garnered international attention. She has already received three ERC Grants.
In addition to her research, Ferlaino is deeply committed to science communication and equal opportunity, for example through the “Atom*innen” network she founded for women in physics. Her work has received numerous awards, including the START Prize, the Erwin Schrödinger Prize from the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW), and the Grete Rehor State Prize. Most recently, she was named Austria’s “Scientist of the Year 2025” and, in May 2026, was awarded the Tyrolean Order of the Eagle in Gold by the State of Tyrol.
From Naples to Innsbruck
Francesca Ferlaino was born in Naples in 1977, earned her Ph.D. from the University of Florence in 2004, and conducted research at the European Laboratory for Non-Linear Spectroscopy (LENS). In 2006, she joined Rudolf Grimm’s research group at the University of Innsbruck, where she soon established her own research group. Since 2014, she has been a professor at the Institute of Experimental Physics and the scientific director of the Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information (IQOQI) at the Austrian Academy of Sciences. In 2026, she was elected a full member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences.