Carl Wieman

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Carl Edwin Wieman
Wieman (left) with Eric Cornell on the campus of the University of Colorado
Wieman (left) with Eric Cornell on the campus of the University of Colorado
Born March 26, 1951 (1951-03-26) (age 57)
Corvallis, Oregon
Nationality American
Fields Physics
Institutions University of British Columbia
Alma mater MIT
Stanford University
Known for Bose-Einstein condensate
Notable awards Lorentz Medal (1998)
Nobel Prize in Physics (2001)
Oersted Medal (2007)

Carl Edwin Wieman (born March 26, 1951) is an American physicist at the University of British Columbia and Nobel Prize in Physics laureate for his production in 1995 with Eric Allin Cornell, the first true Bose-Einstein condensate.

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[edit] Biography

Wieman was born in Corvallis, Oregon and graduated from Corvallis High School. Wieman earned his B.S. in 1973 from MIT and his Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1977; he was also awarded a Doctor of Science, honoris causa from the University of Chicago in 1997. He was awarded the Lorentz Medal in 1998. In 2001, he won the Nobel Prize in Physics, along with Eric Allin Cornell and Wolfgang Ketterle. In 2004, he was named United States Professor of the Year among all doctoral and research universities.

Wieman joined the University of British Columbia on 1 January 2007 and is heading a well-endowed science education initiative there; he retains a twenty percent appointment at University of Colorado, Boulder to head the science education project he founded in Colorado.[1]

In the past several years, Wieman has been particularly involved with efforts at improving science education and has conducted educational research on science instruction. Wieman currently serves as Chair of the Board on Science Education of the National Academy of Sciences. He has used and promotes Eric Mazur's "peer instruction", a pedagogical system, where teachers repeatedly ask multiple-choice concept questions during class, and students reply on the spot with little wireless "clicker" devices. If a large proportion of the class chooses a wrong answer, students discuss among themselves and reply again.[2] In 2007, Wieman was awarded the Oersted Medal, which recognizes notable contributions to the teaching of physics, by the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT).

[edit] Selected publications

  • Walker, Thad; David Sesko and Carl Wieman (1990). "Collective Behavior of Optically Trapped Neutral Atoms". Phys. Rev. Lett. 64 (4): 408-411. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.64.408. 
  • Tanner, Carol E.; Carl Wieman (1988). "Precision Measurement of the Hyperfine Structure of the 133Cs 6P3/2 State". Phys. Rev. A 38 (3): 1616-1617. doi:10.1103/PhysRevA.38.1616. 

[edit] References

  1. ^ University of Colorado, Boulder (20 March 2006). "CU-Boulder Nobel Laureate Carl Wieman Announces Move To British Columbia, Will Remain Linked To CU-Boulder". Press release. Retrieved on 2007-10-09.
  2. ^ David Epstein. "Trading Research for Teaching", Inside Higher Ed, 7 April 2006. Retrieved on 2007-10-09. 

[edit] External links


v • d • e
Nobel Laureates in Physics
Persondata
NAME Wieman, Carl Edwin
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION Physicist
DATE OF BIRTH 1951-3-26
PLACE OF BIRTH Corvallis, Oregon
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH