Wolfgang Ketterle (; born 21 October 1957) is a German
physicist
A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe.
Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...
and professor of
physics
Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which ...
at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of th ...
(MIT). His research has focused on experiments that trap and
cool atom
Every atom is composed of a nucleus and one or more electrons bound to the nucleus. The nucleus is made of one or more protons and a number of neutrons. Only the most common variety of hydrogen has no neutrons.
Every solid, liquid, gas, a ...
s to temperatures close to
absolute zero, and he led one of the first groups to realize
Bose–Einstein condensation Bose–Einstein may refer to:
* Bose–Einstein condensate
** Bose–Einstein condensation (network theory)
* Bose–Einstein correlations
* Bose–Einstein statistics
In quantum statistics, Bose–Einstein statistics (B–E statistics) describe ...
in these systems in 1995. For this achievement, as well as early fundamental studies of condensates, he was awarded the
Nobel Prize in Physics
)
, image = Nobel Prize.png
, alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then " ...
in 2001, together with
Eric Allin Cornell and
Carl Wieman
Carl Edwin Wieman (born March 26, 1951) is an American physicist and educationist at Stanford University, and currently the A.D White Professor at Large at Cornell University. In 1995, while at the University of Colorado Boulder, he and Eric All ...
.
Biography
Ketterle was born in
Heidelberg
Heidelberg (; Palatine German: ') is a city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914, of which roughly a quarter consisted of students ...
, Baden-Württemberg, and attended school in
Eppelheim and Heidelberg.
In 1976 he entered the
University of Heidelberg
}
Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, (german: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; la, Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis) is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, ...
, before transferring to the
Technical University of Munich two years later, where he gained the equivalent of his master's diploma in 1982.
In 1986 he earned a PhD in experimental
molecular spectroscopy
Spectroscopy is the field of study that measures and interprets the electromagnetic spectra that result from the interaction between electromagnetic radiation and matter as a function of the wavelength or frequency of the radiation. Matte ...
under the supervision of Herbert Walther and Hartmut Figger at the
Max Planck Institute
Max or MAX may refer to:
Animals
* Max (dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog
* Max (English Springer Spaniel), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of OBE)
* Max (gorilla) ...
for Quantum Optics in
Garching, before conducting postdoctoral research at Garching and the University of Heidelberg.
In 1990 he joined the group of
David E. Pritchard in the Research Laboratory of Electronics at MIT (RLE).
He was appointed to the MIT physics faculty in 1993 and, since 1998, he has been
John D. MacArthur
John Donald MacArthur (March 6, 1897 – January 6, 1978) was an American insurance magnate, real estate investor and philanthropist who established the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, benefactor in the MacArthur Fellowships.
E ...
Professor of Physics.
In 2006, he was appointed Associate Director of RLE and began serving as director of MIT's Center for Ultracold Atoms.
After achieving
Bose–Einstein condensation Bose–Einstein may refer to:
* Bose–Einstein condensate
** Bose–Einstein condensation (network theory)
* Bose–Einstein correlations
* Bose–Einstein statistics
In quantum statistics, Bose–Einstein statistics (B–E statistics) describe ...
in dilute gases in 1995, his group was in 1997 able to demonstrate
interference between two colliding condensates, as well as the first realization of an "
atom laser", the
atom
Every atom is composed of a nucleus and one or more electrons bound to the nucleus. The nucleus is made of one or more protons and a number of neutrons. Only the most common variety of hydrogen has no neutrons.
Every solid, liquid, gas, a ...
ic analogue of an optical
laser
A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word "laser" is an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation". The ...
. In addition to ongoing investigations of Bose–Einstein condensates in ultracold atoms, his more recent achievements have included the creation of a
molecular Bose condensate in 2003, as well as a 2005 experiment providing evidence for "high-temperature"
superfluidity in a
fermionic condensate
A fermionic condensate or Fermi–Dirac condensate is a superfluid phase formed by fermionic particles at low temperatures. It is closely related to the Bose–Einstein condensate, a superfluid phase formed by bosonic atoms under similar cond ...
.
Ketterle is also a runner, and was featured in the December 2009 issue of Runner's World's "I'm a Runner". Ketterle spoke of taking his running shoes to Stockholm when he received the Nobel Prize and happily running in the early dusk. Ketterle completed the 2013 Boston Marathon with a time of
2:49:16, and in 2014, in Boston, ran a personal record of 2:44:06.
Ketterle serves on the board of trustees of the
Center for Excellence in Education
The Center for Excellence in Education (CEE) is an American private nonprofit organization that seeks to help academically outstanding high school and college students achieve successful careers in science and technology and fulfill leadership ...
(CEE), and participates in the Distinguished Lecture Series of CEE's flagship program for high-school students, the
Research Science Institute
The Research Science Institute (RSI) is an international summer research program for high school students. RSI is sponsored by the Center for Excellence in Education (CEE) and hosted by MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts. RSI brings together the top S ...
(RSI), which Ketterle's own son Jonas attended in 2003. Ketterle sits on the International Scientific Advisory Committee of Australia's
.
Ketterle is one of the 20 American recipients of the Nobel Prize in Physics to sign a letter addressed to President
George W. Bush in May 2008, urging him to "reverse the damage done to basic science research in the Fiscal Year 2008 Omnibus Appropriations Bill" by requesting additional emergency funding for the
Department of Energy's
Office of Science, the
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National ...
, and the
National Institute of Standards and Technology
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce whose mission is to promote American innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST's activities are organized into physical s ...
.
Personal life
Since 2011, Ketterle has been married to Michèle Plott. He has five children, three with Gabriele Ketterle, to whom he was married from 1985 to 2001.
Publications
*
*
*
*
References
External links
* including the Nobel Lecture 8 December 2001 ''When Atoms Behave as Waves: Bose-Einstein Condensation and the Atom Laser''
Ketterle at MITInterview at American Scientist
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ketterle, Wolfgang
1957 births
Living people
German Nobel laureates
20th-century German physicists
Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science faculty
Nobel laureates in Physics
Scientists from Heidelberg
Studienstiftung alumni
Technical University of Munich alumni
Heidelberg University alumni
Grand Crosses with Star and Sash of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
Recipients of the Order of Merit of Baden-Württemberg
Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences
Foreign Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences
21st-century German physicists
Fellows of the Optical Society
Fellows of the American Physical Society