Claude Cohen-Tannoudji
| Claude Cohen-Tannoudji | |
|---|---|
Claude Cohen-Tannoudji
|
|
| Born |
1 April 1933 Constantine, French Algeria |
| Nationality | French |
| Fields | Physics |
| Institutions |
Ecole normale supérieure University of Paris |
| Doctoral advisor | Alfred Kastler |
| Doctoral students |
Serge Haroche Jean Dalibard |
| Notable awards |
Young Medal and Prize (1979) Lilienfeld Prize (1992) Matteucci Medal (1994) Harvey Prize (1996) Nobel Prize in Physics (1997) |
| Spouse | Jacqueline Veyrat (m. 1958) |
| Children | 3 |
Claude Cohen-Tannoudji (born 1 April 1933) is a French physicist. He shared the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics with Steven Chu and William Daniel Phillips for research in methods of laser cooling and trapping atoms. He is still an active researcher, working at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris.
Cohen-Tannoudji was born in Constantine, French Algeria, to Algerian Jewish parents Abraham Cohen-Tannoudji and Sarah Sebbah. When describing his origins Cohen-Tannoudji said: "My family, originally from Tangier, settled in Tunisia and then in Algeria in the 16th century after having fled Spain during the Inquisition. In fact, our name, Cohen-Tannoudji, means simply the Cohen family from Tangiers. The Algerian Jews obtained the French citizenship in 1870 after Algeria became a French colony in 1830."
After finishing secondary school in Algiers in 1953, Cohen-Tannoudji left for Paris to attend the École normale supérieure. His professors included Henri Cartan, Laurent Schwartz, and Alfred Kastler.
In 1958 he married Jacqueline Veyrat, a high school teacher, with whom he has three children. His studies were interrupted when he was conscripted into the army, in which he served for 28 months (longer than usual because of the Algerian War). In 1960 he resumed working toward his doctorate, which he obtained from the University of Paris at the end of 1962.
After his dissertation, he started teaching quantum mechanics at the University of Paris. His lecture notes were the basis of the popular textbook, Mécanique quantique, which he wrote with two of his colleagues. He also continued his research work on atom-photon interactions, and his research team developed the model of the dressed atom.
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