Roy J. Glauber
Encyclopedia
Roy Jay Glauber is an American theoretical physicist
. He is the Mallinckrodt
Professor
of Physics
at Harvard University
and Adjunct Professor of Optical Sciences at the University of Arizona
. Born in New York City
, he was awarded one half of the 2005 Nobel Prize in Physics
"for his contribution to the quantum theory of optical coherence
", with the other half shared by John L. Hall
and Theodor W. Hänsch.
In this work, published in 1963, he created a model for photodetection
and explained the fundamental characteristics of different types of light, such as laser
light (see coherent state
) and light from light bulbs (see blackbody). His theories are widely used in the field of quantum optics
.
, a member of the 1941 graduating class of the Bronx High School of Science
, and went on to do his undergraduate work at Harvard University
. After his sophomore year he was recruited to work on the Manhattan Project
, where (at the age of 18) he was one of the youngest scientists at Los Alamos
. His work involved calculating the critical mass
for the atom bomb. After two years at Los Alamos, he returned to Harvard, receiving his bachelor's degree in 1946 and his PhD in 1949.
Glauber has received many honors for his research, including the Albert A. Michelson Medal from the Franklin Institute
in Philadelphia (1985), the Max Born Award from the Optical Society of America
(1985), the Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics
from the American Physical Society
(1996), and the 2005 Nobel Prize in Physics
. On 22 April 2008, Professor Glauber was awarded the 'Medalla de Oro del CSIC
' ('CSIC's Gold Medal') in a ceremony held in Madrid, Spain.
He currently lives in Arlington, Massachusetts
and is the Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics at Harvard University, where both past and present students enthusiastically praised his teaching to Harvard Crimson
reporters. On April 15, 2010 police in Arlington caught a man they suspected of breaking into Glauber's home, he was later convicted of breaking and entering, but in the end it was only a replica of Glauber's Nobel Prize that was stolen.
Glauber has two children, a son and a daughter, and five grandchildren.
collisions, and the statistical correlation of particles produced in high-energy reactions.
Specific topics of his current research include: the quantum mechanical behavior of trapped wave packet
s; interactions of light with trapped ions; atom counting-the statistical properties of free atom beams and their measurement; algebraic methods for dealing with fermion
statistics; coherence and correlations of bosonic atoms near the Bose–Einstein condensation; the theory of continuously monitored photon counting-and its reaction on quantum sources; the fundamental nature of “quantum jump
s”; resonant transport of particles produced multiply in high-energy collisions; the multiple diffraction model of proton-proton and proton-antiproton scattering.
ceremonies, where he took a bow each year as "Keeper of the Broom," sweeping the stage clean of the paper airplanes that have traditionally been thrown during the event. He missed the 2005 event, though, as he was being awarded his real Nobel Prize at the time.
Physicist
A physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...
. He is the Mallinckrodt
Mallinckrodt
Mallinckrodt is a set of pharmaceutical, chemical, imaging, and respiratory equipment suppliers based in the St. Louis, Missouri, area. Founded in 1867 when the Mallinckrodt brothers formed G. Mallinckrodt & Company to manufacture pharmaceutical chemicals, Mallinckrodt was purchased by Tyco...
Professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
of Physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
and Adjunct Professor of Optical Sciences at the University of Arizona
University of Arizona
The University of Arizona is a land-grant and space-grant public institution of higher education and research located in Tucson, Arizona, United States. The University of Arizona was the first university in the state of Arizona, founded in 1885...
. Born in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, he was awarded one half of the 2005 Nobel Prize in Physics
Nobel Prize in Physics
The Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded once a year by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895 and awarded since 1901; the others are the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Peace Prize, and...
"for his contribution to the quantum theory of optical coherence
Coherence (physics)
In physics, coherence is a property of waves that enables stationary interference. More generally, coherence describes all properties of the correlation between physical quantities of a wave....
", with the other half shared by John L. Hall
John L. Hall
John Lewis "Jan" Hall is an American physicist, and Nobel laureate in physics. He shared one half of the 2005 Nobel Prize in Physics with Theodor W. Hänsch for his work in precision spectroscopy.-Biography:...
and Theodor W. Hänsch.
In this work, published in 1963, he created a model for photodetection
Photodetection
In his historic paper, entitled " The Quantum Theory of Optical Coherence," Roy J. Glauber set a solid foundation for the quantum electronics/quantum optics enterprise. The experimental development of the optical maser and later laser at that time had made the classical concept of optical...
and explained the fundamental characteristics of different types of light, such as laser
Laser
A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of photons. The term "laser" originated as an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation...
light (see coherent state
Coherent state
In quantum mechanics a coherent state is a specific kind of quantum state of the quantum harmonic oscillator whose dynamics most closely resembles the oscillating behaviour of a classical harmonic oscillator...
) and light from light bulbs (see blackbody). His theories are widely used in the field of quantum optics
Quantum optics
Quantum optics is a field of research in physics, dealing with the application of quantum mechanics to phenomena involving light and its interactions with matter.- History of quantum optics :...
.
Biography
Glauber was born in 1925 in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, a member of the 1941 graduating class of the Bronx High School of Science
Bronx High School of Science
The Bronx High School of Science is a specialized New York City public high school often considered the premier science magnet school in the United States. Founded in 1938, it is now located in the Bedford Park section of the Bronx...
, and went on to do his undergraduate work at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
. After his sophomore year he was recruited to work on the Manhattan Project
Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a research and development program, led by the United States with participation from the United Kingdom and Canada, that produced the first atomic bomb during World War II. From 1942 to 1946, the project was under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves of the US Army...
, where (at the age of 18) he was one of the youngest scientists at Los Alamos
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos National Laboratory is a United States Department of Energy national laboratory, managed and operated by Los Alamos National Security , located in Los Alamos, New Mexico...
. His work involved calculating the critical mass
Critical mass
A critical mass is the smallest amount of fissile material needed for a sustained nuclear chain reaction. The critical mass of a fissionable material depends upon its nuclear properties A critical mass is the smallest amount of fissile material needed for a sustained nuclear chain reaction. The...
for the atom bomb. After two years at Los Alamos, he returned to Harvard, receiving his bachelor's degree in 1946 and his PhD in 1949.
Glauber has received many honors for his research, including the Albert A. Michelson Medal from the Franklin Institute
Franklin Institute
The Franklin Institute is a museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and one of the oldest centers of science education and development in the United States, dating to 1824. The Institute also houses the Benjamin Franklin National Memorial.-History:On February 5, 1824, Samuel Vaughn Merrick and...
in Philadelphia (1985), the Max Born Award from the Optical Society of America
Optical Society of America
The Optical Society is a scientific society dedicated to advancing the study of light—optics and photonics—in theory and application, by means of publishing, organizing conferences and exhibitions, partnership with industry, and education. The organization has members in more than 100 countries...
(1985), the Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics
Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics
Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics is an award given each year since 1959 jointly by the American Physical Society and American Institute of Physics. It is established by the Heineman Foundation in honour of Dannie Heineman...
from the American Physical Society
American Physical Society
The American Physical Society is the world's second largest organization of physicists, behind the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft. The Society publishes more than a dozen scientific journals, including the world renowned Physical Review and Physical Review Letters, and organizes more than 20...
(1996), and the 2005 Nobel Prize in Physics
Nobel Prize in Physics
The Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded once a year by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895 and awarded since 1901; the others are the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Peace Prize, and...
. On 22 April 2008, Professor Glauber was awarded the 'Medalla de Oro del CSIC
CSIC
The Spanish National Research Council is the largest public institution dedicated to research in Spain and the third largest in Europe...
' ('CSIC's Gold Medal') in a ceremony held in Madrid, Spain.
He currently lives in Arlington, Massachusetts
Arlington, Massachusetts
Arlington is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, six miles northwest of Boston. The population was 42,844 at the 2010 census.-History:...
and is the Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics at Harvard University, where both past and present students enthusiastically praised his teaching to Harvard Crimson
Harvard Crimson
The Harvard Crimson are the athletic teams of Harvard University. The school's teams compete in NCAA Division I. As of 2006, there were 41 Division I intercollegiate varsity sports teams for women and men at Harvard, more than at any other NCAA Division I college in the country...
reporters. On April 15, 2010 police in Arlington caught a man they suspected of breaking into Glauber's home, he was later convicted of breaking and entering, but in the end it was only a replica of Glauber's Nobel Prize that was stolen.
Glauber has two children, a son and a daughter, and five grandchildren.
Recent work
Glauber's recent research has dealt with problems in a number of areas of quantum optics, a field which, broadly speaking, studies the quantum electrodynamical interactions of light and matter. He is also continuing work on several topics in high-energy collision theory, including the analysis of hadronHadron
In particle physics, a hadron is a composite particle made of quarks held together by the strong force...
collisions, and the statistical correlation of particles produced in high-energy reactions.
Specific topics of his current research include: the quantum mechanical behavior of trapped wave packet
Wave packet
In physics, a wave packet is a short "burst" or "envelope" of wave action that travels as a unit. A wave packet can be analyzed into, or can be synthesized from, an infinite set of component sinusoidal waves of different wavenumbers, with phases and amplitudes such that they interfere...
s; interactions of light with trapped ions; atom counting-the statistical properties of free atom beams and their measurement; algebraic methods for dealing with fermion
Fermion
In particle physics, a fermion is any particle which obeys the Fermi–Dirac statistics . Fermions contrast with bosons which obey Bose–Einstein statistics....
statistics; coherence and correlations of bosonic atoms near the Bose–Einstein condensation; the theory of continuously monitored photon counting-and its reaction on quantum sources; the fundamental nature of “quantum jump
Quantum Jump
Quantum Jump was a 1970s British band, consisting of keyboard player and singer Rupert Hine, guitarist Mark Warner, bass player John G. Perry and drummer Trevor Morais .-Career:...
s”; resonant transport of particles produced multiply in high-energy collisions; the multiple diffraction model of proton-proton and proton-antiproton scattering.
Works by Glauber
- R. J. Glauber, Quantum Theory of Optical Coherence. Selected Papers and Lectures, Wiley-VCH, Weinheim 2007. (A collection of reprints of Glauber's most important papers from 1963 to 1999, selected by the author.)
Ig Nobel
For many years before winning his Nobel Prize, Glauber was familiar to audiences of the Ig Nobel PrizeIg Nobel Prize
The Ig Nobel Prizes are an American parody of the Nobel Prizes and are given each year in early October for ten unusual or trivial achievements in scientific research. The stated aim of the prizes is to "first make people laugh, and then make them think"...
ceremonies, where he took a bow each year as "Keeper of the Broom," sweeping the stage clean of the paper airplanes that have traditionally been thrown during the event. He missed the 2005 event, though, as he was being awarded his real Nobel Prize at the time.
External links
- Glauber States: Coherent states of Quantum Harmonic Oscillator
- Roy J. Glauber at the Harvard Physics Department Faculty website
- The Nobel Prize in Physics 2005
- Dannie Heineman Prize 1996
- "Physics Professor Awarded Nobel", Harvard Crimson, October 5, 2005
- "Double Honours", Guardian, October 11, 2005
- NYC High Schools