Kay Malmstrom Lecture in Physics

Friday, November 9, 2012 at 12:45 p.m.
Sundin Music Hall, 1531 Hewitt Avenue, Saint Paul 

The Kay Malmstrom Lecture in Physics, dedicated to the memory of Kay Malmstrom, is an annual symposium on contemporary issues and research in physics, and is part of the Emma K. and Carl R.N. Malmstrom Chair in Physics. Through this generous gift, Carl R.N. Malmstrom, a 1936 graduate of Hamline University’s College of Liberal Arts, gives Hamline students access to the outstanding scientific minds of our time. Even after his death in June of 2010, Carl’s legacy of supporting Hamline’s students continues to fund collaborative research opportunities, scholarships, and this lecture.

See past lecture topics.

When Freezing Cold is not cold enough: New forms of matter close to Absolute Zero temperature

Guest Lecturer Dr. Wolfgang Ketterle
Nobel Laureate and John D. MacArthur
Professor of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology 

Wolfgang Ketterle has been the John D. MacArthur professor of physics at MIT since 1998. He leads a research group 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. 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).

Dr. Ketterle received a diploma (equivalent to master’s degree) from the Technical University of Munich (1982) and a 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 many honors include the Rabi Prize of the American Physical Society (1997), the Fritz London Prize in Low Temperature Physics (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), a Humboldt research award (2009) and memberships in several Academies of Sciences. He holds Honorary Degrees from Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter (2005), the University of Connecticut (2007), and Ohio State University (2007).

Questions may be directed to Christine Berg Schroeder at sw-events@hamline.edu. We hope you’ll join us!