Cornell
and Wieman Share 2001 Nobel Prize in Physics
(news
release)
Quotes
About the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physics Winners
Press
Conference
(Transcript)
Bose-Einstein
Condensate: A New Form of Matter
(backgrounder)
Nobel
Prize in Physics 2001 (web site of Royal Swedish Academy
of Sciences)
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(shift, left-click) photo of Eric Cornell (high-resolution
tiff image)
Images
of the Bose-Einstein Condensate
Bose-Einstein
Condensate Research at NIST (More information from NIST's
Physics Laboratory)
Bose-Einstein
Condensate 1995 Discovery (More information from JILA)
Eric
Cornell biography page
JILA
Home Page
Eric
A. Cornell of the National Institute of Standards and Technology
and Carl E. Wieman of the University of Colorado at Boulder
today were awarded the 2001 Nobel Prize in physics. They
shared the prize with Wolfgang Ketterle, a German citizen
residing in the United States and professor of physics at
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass.
Cornell,
39, is a senior scientist at the U.S. Department of Commerce's
NIST and an adjoint professor of physics at CU-Boulder.
Wieman, 50, is a distinguished professor of physics and
has taught at CU-Boulder since 1984. Both are fellows of
JILA, a joint institute of CU-Boulder and NIST.
The
three winners will share the $943,000 prize for research
leading to the landmark 1995 creation of the Bose-Einstein
condensate and early studies of its properties. The BEC
is a new form of matter that occurs at just a few hundred
billionths of a degree above absolute zero.
The
2001 Nobel laureates will receive their awards in Stockholm,
Sweden, on Dec. 10.
Cornell
and Wieman become the second and third Nobel Prize winners
at CU-Boulder, while Cornell is the second for NIST. Thomas
Cech, a CU-Boulder professor of chemistry and biochemistry,
was a co-winner of the 1989 Nobel Prize in chemistry. William
Phillips, a NIST fellow, shared the 1997 Nobel Prize in
physics.
Cornell said, "I was thrilled to hear the news. It
is really very gratifying to be recognized for this work.
It is a wonderful thing for NIST and the University of Colorado,
and it is very appropriate and an honor to share this award
with my good friends Carl [Wieman] and Wolfgang [Ketterle]."
Wieman
said he heard about the award from his brother at about
4 a.m. "I have an unlisted number, as does Eric, and
so my brother saw it on the Internet and called me up and
that's how I found out."
"This
is a tremendous thrill because this is the highest award
that a scientist can achieve for his or her work,"
Wieman said. "Interestingly, I discovered that I wasn't
as excited about this as when we actually achieved Bose-Einstein
condensate. That was the ultimate thrill."
As
a non-regulatory agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce's
Technology Administration, NIST develops and promotes measurements,
standards, and technology to enhance productivity, facilitate
trade, and improve the quality of life.
Quotes
About the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physics Winners
SECRETARY OF COMMERCE DON EVANS
"All
of us at the Department of Commerce are extremely proud
of Eric Cornell of the National Institute of Standards and
Technology, a Commerce Department scientist who is a co-recipient
of the 2001 Nobel Prize in physics. Cornell, working with
Carl Wieman of the University of Colorado, created an exotic
new state of matter, the Bose-Einstein condensation. He
is an exemplary scientist, whose enthusiasm for discovery
reflects the Commerce Department and the U.S. government's
finest. His achievement meets our goal of exceeding our
limits and embracing innovative ways to support U.S. industry
through a strong foundation in basic measurement science."
UNIVERSITY
OF COLORADO SYSTEM PRESIDENT ELIZABETH HOFFMAN
"The
awarding of the Nobel Prize to University of Colorado Professors
Eric Cornell and Carl Wieman is a great moment for the university,
for these two outstanding scholars and for the world of
science. Their achievement of the Bose-Einstein condensateone
of the 'Holy Grails' in the world of physicsis an
inspiration to all physicists worldwide, and to all faculty
members at CU and across the country."
NIST
ACTING DIRECTOR KAREN BROWN
"NIST
is extremely proud of Eric Cornell and his marvelous accomplishment,
along with Carl Wieman of the University of Colorado and
Wolfgang Ketterle at MIT. For an institution that has always
recognized scientific and technical excellence as one of
its fundamental values, this achievement is especially rewarding.
On behalf of all of NIST's employees and the science and
industrial communities that we serve, I salute the winners
on this momentous occasion."
CU-BOULDER
CHANCELLOR RICHARD L. BYYNY
"The
awarding of the Nobel Prize in physics to Carl and Eric
brings great honor to these researchers, as well as to the
entire university and to the citizens of Colorado. In addition
to being internationally acclaimed atomic physicists, both
Carl and Eric teach undergraduates, take high school students
on tours of their laboratories and make sure the excitement
of their research gets transferred into the classroom at
every opportunity."
NIST
PHYSICS LABORATORY DIRECTOR KATHARINE GEBBIE
The
Physics Laboratory is thrilled that Eric Cornell, Carl Wieman
and Wolfgang Ketterle are sharing the Nobel Prize in physics.
They are extremely talented and deserving young men. Their
creations of the first Bose-Einstein condensates of atomic
gases were a scientific triumph of the first order and have
launched an entirely new, exponentially growing field of
physics. Eric and Carl's contribution is a proud demonstration
of what can be achieved in a collaboration such as JILA
between a federal agency and a major state university.
JILA
CHAIR ELLEN ZWEIBEL
"All
of us at JILA are extremely proud and happy for Carl and
Eric. I'd like to think that this reflects in some way on
the stimulating scientific environment at JILA and the high
level of support from the JILA staff. It's worth remembering
that Carl and Eric carried out their deep and fundamental
work, which is changing the ways in which we think about
the structure of matter, in an open lab, with the participation
of CU students. We're very grateful to have had the state
and federal support which has made this possible."
JAMES
FALLER, CHIEF OF THE NIST QUANTUM PHYSICS DIVISION (IN WHICH
CORNELL WORKS)
"It's
absolutely stunninga great reflection on the two parent
institutions, CU and NIST. This is first-rate science, and
yet it is table-top science, not some giant machine. It's
a great tribute to the foresight of these institutions in
establishing and nurturing JILA. NIST and CU should be very
proud."
NIST
BOULDER LABORATORIES DIRECTOR SUSAN SUTHERLAND
"Winning
the Nobel is a fantastic achievement, particularly so soon
after the discovery for which Cornell and Wieman are being
recognized. All of us in Boulder are very, very proud of
them and of the wonderfully productive CU-NIST collaboration
that helped make this achievement possible."
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