Professor Wolfgang Ketterle
Professor Wolfgang Ketterle is an Associate Director of the Research Laboratory of Electronics (RLE) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Director of RLE’s affiliated Center for Ultracold Atoms (CUA). He has been the John D. MacArthur professor of physics at MIT since 1998. He leads a group in RLE exploring the properties of ultracold gases. His research is in the field of atomic physics and laser spectroscopy and includes laser cooling and trapping, atom optics and atom interferometry, and studies of Bose-Einstein condensation and Fermi degeneracy. A major focus is the exploration of new forms of matter, 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).
Professor Ketterle received a diploma (equivalent to master’s degree) from the Technical University of Munich (1982), 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.
His honors include the Rabi Prize of the American Physical Society (1997), the Gustav-Hertz Prize of the German Physical Society (1997), the Fritz London Prize in Low Temperature Physics (1999), the Dannie-Heineman Prize of the Academy of Sciences, Göttingen, Germany (1999), the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Physics (2000), the Knight Commander’s Cross (Badge and Star) of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (2002), the MIT Killian Award (2004), and memberships in several Academies of Sciences.
Education
- Pre-diploma (Vordiplom), Physics, University of Heidelberg, Germany, 1978
- Diploma (Diplom, equivalent of master’s degree), Physics, Technical University of Munich, Germany, 1982
- Ph.D., Physics, Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich and Max-Planck Institute for Quantum Optics, Garching, Germany, 1986
Employment
1982-88 — Research assistant (1982-85) and staff scientist (1985-88), Max-Planck Institute for Quantum Optics, Garching, Germany
1989-90 — Research scientist, University of Heidelberg, Germany, Department of Physical Chemistry
1990-93 — Research Associate, MIT, Cambridge, Department of Physics
Since 1993 — Faculty member, MIT, Cambridge, Department of Physics:
Assistant Professor of Physics (1993-97)
Professor of Physics (1997-98)
John D. MacArthur Professor of Physics (since 1998)
Director of the Center of Ultracold Atoms (since 2006)
Associate Director of the Research Laboratory of Electronics (since 2006)
Honors
Fellowship of Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes (1976-82)
NATO/DAAD Postdoctoral Fellowship (1990-91)
Michael and Philip Platzman Award (MIT, 1994)
David and Lucile Packard Fellowship (1996)
I.I. Rabi Prize of the American Physical Society (1997)
Gustav-Hertz Prize of the German Physical Society (1997)
Distinguished Traveling Lecturer of the Division
of Laser Science of the American Physical Society (1998-99)
Discover Magazine Award for Technological Innovation (1998)
Fritz London Prize in Low-Temperature Physics (1999)
Dannie-Heineman Prize of the Academy of Sciences, Göttingen, Germany (1999) Benjamin Franklin Medal in Physics (2000)
Nobel Prize in Physics (2001, together with E.A. Cornell and C.E. Wieman) Officer in the Order of Legion of Honour of France (2002)
Medal of Merit of the State of Baden-Würtemberg (2002)
Knight Commander’s Cross (Badge and Star) of the Order of Merit
of the Federal Republic of Germany (2002)
Killian Award (MIT, 2004)
Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science from Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter (2005)
University of Connecticut (2007), Ohio State University (2007)
Strathclyde University (2011)
Humboldt Research Award (2009)
Leonie Wild Medal of the town of Eppelheim (2009)
James Joyce Award of the Literary & Historical Society of University College Dublin (2009)
Honorary Professor at Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xian, China (2014)
Memberships
American Physical Society (APS, Fellow, 1997)
Optical Society of America (OSA, Fellow, 2006)
American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS, Fellow, 1999)
European Academy of Sciences and Arts (2002)
Academy of Sciences in Heidelberg (2002)
Institute of Physics (IOP, Fellow, 2002)
National Academy of Sciences (foreign associate, 2002)
European Academy of Arts, Sciences, and Humanities (titular member, 2002)
Bavarian Academy of Sciences (2003)
German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina (2005)
Honorary Membership in Deutscher Hochschulverband (2009)
Russian Academy of Sciences (foreign member, 2011)
Honorary Member of the German Physics Society (DPG, 2014)