Nobel Prize Awarded in Physics for Atomic Clocks

[DavidW]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19879890

A good explanation for those that know a bit of physics or chemistry:

Atomic clocks are based on atoms that have a choice of two states, a ground state and an excited state. The difference in energy between the states determines the frequency of an intrinsic oscillation that is set up when the atom starts out in a combination state. Experimentalists can't measure this oscillation directly, but it's often represented by a point that continually rotates around the circumference of a circle or the surface of a sphere. The angle through which this point has moved since the beginning of an experiment is called the phase. A precise measurement of the phase is the goal of a clock because the rotation speed is a known quantity, fixed by the difference in energy of the two atomic states.

[Opus106]

I was a bit afraid that it might go to LHC and Co. or the theorists, this time. It's good to know that the panel had its collective feet firmly on the ground.

More information on the laureates and the explanation of their work is available at the official website.


It was amazing when, this afternoon, literally a couple of minutes after the prize was announced, Dr. Haroche's Wiki entry (with very little information) was updated with the news!

[mahler10th]

I was a bit afraid that it might go to LHC and Co. or the theorists, this time. It's good to know that the panel had its collective feet firmly on the ground.
More information on the laureates and the explanation of their work is available at the official website.
It was amazing when, this afternoon, literally a couple of minutes after the prize was announced, Dr. Haroche's Wiki entry (with very little information) was updated with the news!

I thought it would go LHC too.  Perhaps next year.  Maybe even Professor Higgs if CERNs large foreheads decide to make the 'discovery' official.

[DavidW]

I don't see it going to LHC now or even next year, that is hasty and NOT how the prize works.  If you look at the Nobel Prize in Physics you will see that they wait many years if not decades to establish that the people in question really had a tremendous impact in Physics.  The theory might be in place for quite awhile, and that deserves a Nobel Prize, but the experimental finding does not earn such a prize for at least a decade.

[North Star]

I don't see it going to LHC now or even next year, that is hasty and NOT how the prize works.  If you look at the Nobel Prize in Physics you will see that they wait many years if not decades to establish that the people in question really had a tremendous impact in Physics.  The theory might be in place for quite awhile, and that deserves a Nobel Prize, but the experimental finding does not earn such a prize for at least a decade.

This.