雖然我在一個月前電腦掛了的悲慘事件中，幾乎是與911同時，喪失了多年來的文字，但是還好有新聞台留下了一部份，並且還因此比過去奮勵，寫了一些以秋天為題的詩，雖然詩的寫作絕對不是我的專長，但是透過詩，隱約感受到簡約的文字給我的力量—因為沒有電腦了，反倒重新組織起來，以及再次相信手書的重要。
秋天的一大盛事是諾貝爾獎的公佈，在今年五六月時，我曾經猜測今年的物理學獎大概在不會跟去年一樣，充滿了一種對舊世紀的敬重，頒給歲數總和超過200多的耆老，今年應該會給五十歲以下的新枝，一則以彰顯新世紀的來臨，一方面也是物理這個領域不再個人主義的證驗，認同一個領域整體研究或實驗室/團隊的可能性極大，果不其然，繼1997年朱棣文等人獲獎之後，在研究物質凝態與極低溫領域，又獲殊榮。更重要的是，他們都在50歲以下，是JILA與MIT的學者。在科學領域裡，諾貝爾獎向來是一種指標，但是不無遺珠之憾。真正專業的領域是我們大多數人是可望而不可及的。不過沒什麼關係，因為在不同領域，總會有一些傑出的人士以言簡意賅的方式，驅除我們對無知的恐懼，進而化為敬意。
不過我實在不願意預測文學獎，去年我猜對了是華人卻不是我心中的北島(他若得了想來也會一陣討論)，我猜第三世界的吧，新世紀的文學精神，嗯。
The 2001 Nobel Prize in Physics
9 October 2001
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Physics for 2001 jointly to
Eric A. Cornell
JILA and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Boulder, Colorado, USA,
Wolfgang Ketterle
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, and
Carl E. Wieman
JILA and University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA,
”for the achievement of Bose-Einstein condensation in dilute gases of alkali atoms, and for early fundamental studies of the properties of the condensates”.
New State of Matter Revealed: Bose-Einstein Condensate
A laser beam differs from the light from an ordinary light bulb in several ways. In the laser the light particles all have the same energy and oscillate together. To cause matter also to behave in this controlled way has long been a challenge for researchers. This year’s Nobel Laureates have succeeded – they have caused atoms to ”sing in unison” – thus discovering a new state of matter, the Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC).
In 1924 the Indian physicist Bose made important theoretical calculations regarding light particles. He sent his results to Einstein who extended the theory to a certain type of atom. Einstein predicted that if a gas of such atoms were cooled to a very low temperature all the atoms would suddenly gather in the lowest possible energy state. The process is similar to when drops of liquid form from a gas, hence the term condensation.
Seventy years were to pass before this year’s Nobel Laureates, in 1995, succeeded in achieving this extreme state of matter. Cornell and Wieman then produced a pure condensate of about 2 000 rubidium atoms at 20 nK (nanokelvin), i.e. 0.000 000 02 degrees above absolute zero.
Independently of the work of Cornell and Wieman, Ketterle performed corresponding experiments with sodium atoms. The condensates he managed to produce contained more atoms and could therefore be used to investigate the phenomenon further. Using two separate BECs which were allowed to expand into one another, he obtained very clear interference patterns, i.e. the type of pattern that forms on the surface of water when two stones are thrown in at the same time. This experiment showed that the condensate contained entirely co-ordinated atoms. Ketterle also produced a stream of small ”BEC drops” which fell under the force of gravity. This can be considered as a primitive ”laser beam” using matter instead of light.
It is interesting to speculate on areas for the application of BEC. The new ”control” of matter which this technology involves is going to bring revolutionary applications in such fields as precision measurement and nanotechnology.
Read more about this year’s prize:
· Information for the Public
· Advanced Information
***
Eric A. Cornell, 39 years, born 1961 in Palo Alto, California (US citizen). PhD 1990 at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Cambridge, Massachusetts. Senior scientist at NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology), Professor Adjoint, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado.
http://jilawww.colorado.edu/bec/
Wolfgang Ketterle, 43 years, born 1957 in Heidelberg, Germany (German citizen, US resident). PhD 1986 at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München and Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik, Garching. Professor of Physics at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Cambridge, Massachusetts.
http://cua.mit.edu/ketterle_group
Carl E. Wieman, 50 years, born 1951 in Corvallis, Oregon (US citizen). PhD 1977 at Stanford University. Professor of Physics at University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado.
http://jilawww.colorado.edu/bec/
Prize amount: SEK 10 million, will be shared equally among the Laureates
Press Officer: Eva Krutmeijer, phone +46 8 673 95 95, +46 709 84 66 38, evak@kva.se
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