The ACG and Heidelberg University Association will host a Heidelberg Lecture with Nobel Laureate Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Ketterrle.
RSVP by November 6 by clicking here.
Registration is required. Seating is limited. Reception to follow.
Why do physicists freeze matter to extremely low temperatures? Why is it worthwhile to cool to temperatures which are a billion times lower than that of interstellar space? In his talk, Prof. Ketterle will discuss new forms of matter, which only exist at extremely low temperatures. Of special interest are superfluids which can flow without dissipation. Recently, he and his team have observed a supersolid which is gaseous, liquid and solid at the same time.
Wolfgang Ketterle has been the John D. MacArthur professor of physics at MIT since 1998. He leads a research group exploring new forms of matter of ultracold atoms, in particular novel aspects of superfluidity, coherence, and correlations in many-body systems. His observation of Bose-Einstein condensation in a gas in 1995 and the first realization of an atom laser in 1997 were recognized with the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2001 (together with E.A. Cornell and C.E. Wieman). He began his studies at Heidelberg University, received a diploma (equivalent to master’s degree) from the Technical University of Munich (1982) and the Ph.D. in physics from the University of Munich (1986). He did postdoctoral work at the Max-Planck Institute for Quantum Optics in Garching and at the University of Heidelberg in molecular spectroscopy and combustion diagnostics. In 1990, he came to MIT as a postdoc and joined the physics faculty in 1993. Since 2006, he is the director of the Center of Ultracold Atoms, an NSF funded research center, and Associate Director of the Research Laboratory of Electronics. His major accomplishments are the development of important tools to manipulate and study Bose-Einstein condensates, and several seminal studies of the properties of Bose-Einstein condensates and quantum degenerate Fermi gases.
Wolfgang Ketterle is a fellow of the American Physical Society, the Optical Society of America, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Institute of Physics, a member of the German physical society, the European Academy of Sciences and Arts, the Academy of Sciences in Heidelberg, the European Academy of Arts, Sciences, and Humanities, the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina, a foreign associate of the National Academy of Sciences, an honorary member of the Deutsche Hochschulverband and a foreign member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. His awards include the Rabi Prize of the American Physical Society, the Gustav-Hertz Prize of the German physical society, the Dannie-Heineman Prize of the Academy of Sciences, Göttingen, Germany, the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Physics, the Nobel Prize in Physics, the Medal of Merit of the State of Baden-Württemberg, the Knight Commander’s Cross (Badge and Star) of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, the MIT Killian Award and a Humboldt research award. He holds several Honorary Degrees and an Honorary Professorship.
Heidelberg Lectures is a project within the Year of German-American Friendship 2018/2019. Also known as Deutschlandjahr USA, this comprehensive and collaborative initiative is funded by the German Federal Foreign Office, implemented by the Goethe-Institut, and supported by the Federation of German Industries (BDI).