Congratulations to NIST Researcher and Department of Physics Lecturer David Wineland who won the 2012 Nobel Prize in Physics. The award was announced Tuesday morning, October 9.
Wineland shares this year's award with French physicist Serge Haroche. According to the Nobel Web site, they received the award, "for ground-breaking experimental methods that enable measuring and manipulation of individual quantum systems". The research team developed a new method for measuring and controling individual photons, paving the way for advanced, super-fast computing and more precise instruments.
“The department of physics is thrilled about David's Nobel Prize," Physics Department Chair Paul Beale said. "His research using trapped ions to study quantum entanglement, now recognized for the groundbreaking work it is by a Nobel Prize, acknowledges his great successes. David is an important member of our graduate faculty who has been both a key graduate advisor for our students and a strong member of our graduate student recruiting team. His laboratory at NIST has allowed our graduate students to engage in world-class research, and it's an honor for our department to be associated with him.”
Wineland has been a lecturer in the Department of Physics since 2000. He oversees graduate student research in his lab and has served as a PhD thesis advisor for doctoral candidates, including: David Kielpinski (2001), Chris Langer (2006), Joe Britton (2008), David Hume (2010), and Rodney Blakestad (2010).
Dr. Wineland is the fourth Nobel Laureate in the CU Department of Physics. He follows Professors John Hall (2005), Eric Cornell and Carl Wieman (2001) in earning this prestigious award.
<View the Official Press Release>
<View a description of the prize-winning discovery>
<Colorado Arts and Sciences Magazine, "NIST physicist, CU-Boulder lecturer wins Nobel">