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For students and researchers trying to plan their future careers, the paths taken by current professors can provide good role models. Insights into diverse contemporary academic careers are very valuable tools in this process.

50 years ago today, the historic Apollo 11 mission came to an end. The teams in the NASA control centres had a clear view on the journey as it happened in part thanks to an ingenious invention by Fritz Fischer (1898–1947), ETH professor for technical physics: The Eidophor – a device to project TV images onto large screens.

In quasiparticles known as polaritons, states of light and matter are strongly coupled. The group of Ataç İmamoğlu has now developed a new approach to study nonlinear optical properties of polaritons in strongly correlated electronic states. In doing so, they opened up fresh perspectives for exploring both ingredients of the polariton: novel functionalities for photonic devices and fundamental insight into exotic states of matter.

The group of Jérôme Faist in the Institute for Quantum Electronics achieved the first realization of a terahertz quantum cascade laser operating without cryogenic cooling. This feat heralds the widespread use of these devices in practical applications.