Innsbruck Physics Lecture - Tue, 19 November 2024, 16:30 h (Lecture Hall A)
Wolfgang Ketterle
John D. MacArthur Professor of Physics,
MIT Dep. of Physics (Cambridge)
Wolfgang Ketterle was awarded the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physics, alongside Eric Cornell and Carl Wieman, for achieving Bose-Einstein condensation in dilute gases of alkali atoms, a groundbreaking new state of matter. Wolfgang Ketterle completed his PhD in experimental molecular spectroscopy at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics in Garching. Following his postdoctoral work in Germany, he moved to the United States in 1990, joining the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where his work with ultracold atoms advanced rapidly. In 1995, he successfully demonstrated Bose-Einstein condensation, marking a milestone in quantum physics. Among his other honors, Ketterle has received the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Physics and the Fritz London Prize in Low Temperature Physics, underscoring his impact on atomic physics. Currently, as John D. MacArthur Professor of Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Ketterle’s research focuses on the exotic properties of ultracold gases, exploring superfluidity, coherence, and correlations in quantum many-body systems.
New insights into quantum mechanics by studying ultracold atoms
Cooling to nanokelvin temperatures provides us with control over atoms at the quantum level. This has allowed us to demonstrate important quantum phenomena, including the realization of Bose-Einstein condensation and other new forms of matter, studies of how atoms scatter light, and how atoms interact with each other.
Previous lectures
Jacqueline Bloch, When light sheds light on condensed matter. >>
(19 March 2024)
Rainer Weiss, The beginning of gravitational wave astronomy: current state and future. >>
(19 October 2021)
Joachim Ulrich, Linking the International System of Units to Fundamental Constants. >>
(22 October 2019)
Francis Halzen, IceCube: Opening a New Window on the Universe from the South Pole. >>
(30 October 2018)
Dan Shechtman, QUASI-PERIODIC CRYSTALS – A PARADIGM SHIFT IN CRYSTALLOGRAPHY >>
(17 October 2017)
Paul Corkum, Probi6g quantum systems from the inside – on the attosecond time scale >>
(10 November 2016)
Alain Aspect, Institut d'Optique Graduate School, Palaiseau, France >>
(10 November 2015)
Michael Kramer - Nearly 100 years after General Relativity: Was Einstein right? >>
(04 November 2014)
Immanuel Bloch - Controlling and Exploring Quantum Matter at the Single Atom Level >>
(22 October 2013)
Wim Ubachs - Search for a variation of fundamental constants >>
(13 November 2012)
Reinhard Genzel - Massive Black Holes and Galaxies >>
(4 October 2011)