Nobel Laureate In Physics Speaks At Chapel Oct. 11Oct. 2, 2000
Dr. William Phillips, 1997 Nobel Laureate in Physics, will speak at 10 and 11 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 11, during Chapel in Waco Hall on the Baylor University campus.
Phillips received the Nobel Prize for his development of methods used to cool and trap atoms with laser light. He will demonstrate the "strange world" of supercold atoms and talk about how he integrates his work as a scientist with his Christian faith.
Phillips was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., in 1948. He attended Juniata College, where he received his bachelor's degree summa cum laude in 1970. After earning his doctorate in physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1976, Phillips went to work for the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) as part of the Electricity Division in 1978. Though his first official duties related to his thesis in the area of magnetic resonance, he used "stolen moments" to dabble in laser-cooling. With the encouragement of management, he continued experiments, establishing the internationally recognized laser cooling and trapped atom research program that NIST has today.
Phillips was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1997, which is considered one of the highest possible honors for a U.S. scientist.
Phillips, his wife and two children are residents of Gaithersburg, Md., where he has been a NIST Fellow since 1996.
For more information, contact Dr. Todd Lake, dean of Chapel and Baylor chaplain, at 710-3517.