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Harvard's Lene V. Hau Wins 2004 Richtmyer Memorial Lecture Award from the American Association of Physics Teachers
Professor who stops light honored for 'exciting lectures'
Cambridge, Mass. - January 26, 2004 - Gordon McKay Professor of Applied Physics and Professor of Physics Lene V. Hau has won the 2004 Richtmyer Memorial Lecture Award from the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT). The Awards Committee of AAPT unanimously agreed that her dedication to research, passion for teaching, and her ability to give exciting and informative lectures made her the ideal recipient.
Hau won world acclaim for slowing down the speed at which light travels (from 186,000 miles per second to 38 miles per hour) and then bringing it to a complete stop. Before these experiments, scientists did not believe light could be manipulated this way. Hau's team was also able to restart the stopped light beam without affecting its characteristics, raising the possibility of using her system to create optical and quantum computers more versatile than today's machines and developing security codes that are virtually unbreakable.
"Hau's passion for teaching, as highlighted by the well-deserved Richtmyer award, combined with her groundbreaking research, make her the ideal scientific ambassador. She has inspired students and the public, pushed the boundaries of traditional fields, and given new meaning to the term interdisciplinary with her commitment to discovery," said Venkatesh Narayanamurti, Dean of the Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences and Dean of Physical Sciences at Harvard University.
The Award will be presented to Hau at the AAPT meeting in Miami Beach on Monday, January 26, 2004. Hau will also deliver a keynote address, "Light at Bicycle Speed -- and Slower Yet!" at the award ceremony. The resulting lecture will be published in the American Journal of Physics later this year.
The Richtmyer Memorial Lecture is named for Floyd K. Richtmyer, distinguished physicist, teacher, and administrator, who had wide influence on the development of physics in the United States. Professor Richtmyer was one of the founders and presidents of the American Association of Physics Teachers. He was also the editor for two major scholarly publications, the Journal of the Optical Society and the Review of Scientific Instruments. Most important, Richtmyer served as a guide to many young physicists who later became leaders of American science.
The distinguished lectureship has been awarded annually since 1941 and previous award winners include a number of Nobel laureates. Among the recipients are Harvard physicists Sheldon Glashow, Steven Weinberg, Edward Purcell, John Van Vleck, and Michael Tinkham. Previous winners also include William D. Phillips, Carl E. Wieman, Steven Chu, Murray Gell-Mann, Eugene P. Wigner, Enrico Fermi, John C. Slater, J.R. Oppenheimer, and Arthur H. Compton.
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