“The biggest demonstration of courage is not in outer space but in thought” – these words belong to John Atanasoff, an inventor of Bulgarian descent, the man who created the first electronic computer with regenerative capacity memory.

Dr. Marin Burov is the holder of this year’s John Atanasoff Grand Prix for young Bulgarian computer scientists, awarded for the 21^st time by the President of Bulgaria Rumen Radev. His is a life between specialized algorithms, simulations, quantum technologies, ideas for machine learning for physicists and teaching:

“You have to devote a sufficient amount of time to achieve success, and time is the only resource I have not yet found a way to generate,” says 34-year old Marin Bukov. He loves what he does, that is why the time he has devoted to science in recent years quickly brought him success:

“I graduated from the German language school in 2008, then I did a bachelor’s degree in physics and a bachelor’s degree in mathematics at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, then a master’s and a PhD at Boston University, and then a postdoctoral. I am now leader of a research group at the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems in Dresden. If I have to go back in time – at the very beginning you have to study the matter, learn the new concepts. Somewhere around the middle of my PhD was the time when new ideas appeared and hence the questions how to make them work. And that has continued to this day.”

Dr. Marin Bukov’s scientific works have more than 2,500 citations in the bibliography of articles published in the Scopus abstract and citation database. His principal interest lies in the development and application of artificial intelligence in quantum technologies. Dr. Marin Bukov developed the first self-learning application for AI-using algorithms for controlling and manipulating highly interactive in- and out-of-equilibrium quantum systems. As to what practical application his inventions have, Dr, Bukov explains:

“The application of quantum technologies can be very diverse – for example they can lead to a major breakthrough in speeding up a certain kind of algorithms. In cryptography quantum technologies are also expected to lead to new crypto algorithms and new ways of storing and protecting information. Quantum simulations are expected to lead to a breakthrough in quantum physics, most of all in the synthesis of new materials with targeted properties. Also in quantum chemistry - in pharmaceutics and in the creation of molecules that will lead to the synthesis of new medicines. It can well be said this is the roadmap for the next 50-100 years.”

Dr. Bukov also lectures, including in Bulgaria, where he set up a lecture course at the St. Kliment Ohridski University in Sofia in 2020/2021. The course, attended by 45 students, is part of the master’s degree programme in AI and physics.

“I created a new lecture course for reinforcement learning for physical sciences. Together with my colleagues from the Max Planck Institute we are starting work on a new course on out-of-equilibrium quantum dynamics. So that teaching and research usually go hand in hand,” Dr. Bukov says.

Is he considering coming back to Bulgaria?

“Actually, I was here two years ago, I tried to form research groups,” Dr. Bukov says. But the laws and regulations in the country are hampering the development of the kind of groups Dr. Bukov works with:

“Things are advancing in Bulgaria, but have not yet reached the level that would allow the development of such teams. Frankly speaking, I do not think some of the laws allow for the creation of a competitive research group, for example the Law on Academic Staff Development, parts of the Higher Education Act. As far as I know a new law on scientific research and innovations is currently being developed, and that is the first step that can make the system competitive.”

“This award is a token of recognition of myself and my work, but also of the work of all research associates and students who have been working with me,” Marin Bukov says about the John Atanasoff prize he was awarded.

Translated and posted by Milena Daynova

Photos courtesy of Marin Bukov and BTA