Dr. Wineland is a global expert in trapped ions, or electrically charged atoms, used in atomic clocks and experimental quantum computing. After joining the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in 1975, Wineland accomplished the first demonstration of laser cooling. This breakthrough, and related discoveries in trapping atoms, was fundamental to the discovery of the Bose-Einstein condensate. Dr. Wineland’s research has yielded a number of scientific breakthroughs, including the first single-atom quantum logic gate, the first demonstration of entanglement with two and four ions, and the first demonstration of a “quantum logic atomic clock,” which is now the world’s most precise atomic clock. Since 2000, Dr. Wineland has been a lecturer in the Department of Physics at CU-Boulder, where he leads graduate seminars and mentors graduate students pursuing doctorates in Physics. According to one of those students, Dr. Wineland is a “brilliant and humble scientist” who “was always available” to his students. Dr. Wineland received the 2012 Nobel Prize in Physics along with Serge Haroche. (See related story on page 32.)
