Claude Cohen-Tannoudji

2025-11-03T06:03:35Z

2601:189:8401:D70:1A1:7603:887:8276: originally not grammatically correct

{{short description|French physicist (born 1933)}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Claude Cohen-Tannoudji
| image = Claude Cohen-Tannoudji (cropped).JPG
| caption = Cohen-Tannoudji in 2007
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=y|1933|4|1}}
| birth_place = [[Constantine, Algeria|Constantine]], [[French Algeria]]
| nationality = French
| field = [[Physics]]
| work_institutions = [[College de France]] [[University of Paris]] [[École normale supérieure (Paris)]]
| alma_mater = [[École normale supérieure (Paris)|École normale supérieure]] [[University of Paris]]
| doctoral_advisor = [[Alfred Kastler]]
| doctoral_students = [[Serge Haroche]] [[Jean Dalibard]] [[Claude Fabre]]
| known_for = [[Laser cooling]] ''[[Quantum Mechanics (book)|Quantum Mechanics]]''
| prizes = [[Prix Paul Langevin]] (1963) [[Prix Jean Ricard]] (1971) [[Young Medal and Prize]] (1979) [[Ampère Prize]] (1979) [[Lilienfeld Prize]] (1992) [[Matteucci Medal]] (1994) [[Harvey Prize]] (1996) [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] (1997)
| spouse = {{marriage|Jacqueline Veyrat|1958}}<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xD8OAQAAMAAJ&q=Jacqueline+Veyrat++Claude+Cohen-Tannoudji |title=Notable twentieth century scientists: Supplement - Kristine M. Krapp - Google Books |via=[[Google Books]]|date= January 1998|access-date=2013-03-09|isbn=9780787627669 |last1=Krapp |first1=Kristine M. |publisher=Gale Research }}</ref>
| children = 3
}}

'''Claude Cohen-Tannoudji''' ({{IPA|fr|klod kɔɛn tanudʒi}}; born 1 April 1933) is a French [[physicist]] and researcher at the [[École normale supérieure (Paris)|École normale supérieure]] in Paris.<ref name=":0" /> He is known for his experiments in [[laser cooling]]. He was the first to show that it is possible to cool far beyond the limit expected by [[sub-Doppler cooling]], below the [[recoil temperature]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Nobel Prize in Physics 1997 |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1997/advanced-information/ |access-date=2025-10-16 |website=NobelPrize.org |language=en-US}}</ref>

He shared the 1997 [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] with [[Steven Chu]] and [[William Daniel Phillips]] for research in methods of laser cooling and [[magnetic trap (atoms)|trapping]] atoms.

==Early life==
Cohen-Tannoudji was born in [[Constantine, Algeria|Constantine]], [[French Algeria]], to Algerian [[Sephardic Jewish]] parents Abraham Cohen-Tannoudji and Sarah Sebbah.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/124559/Claude-Cohen-Tannoudji|title=Claude Cohen-Tannoudji - French physicist|access-date=4 October 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lejdd.fr/Societe/Images/Les-Nobel-francais-de-physique/Claude-Cohen-Tannoudji-il-y-a-10-ans-12894 |title=Photo - leJDD.fr |access-date=2015-02-13 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150213182648/http://www.lejdd.fr/Societe/Images/Les-Nobel-francais-de-physique/Claude-Cohen-Tannoudji-il-y-a-10-ans-12894 |archive-date=2015-02-13 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=A Century of Nobel Prize Recipients: Chemistry, Physics, and Medicine |author=Francis Leroy |page=218 |date= 13 Mar 2003 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Nobel Prize Winners in Physics |author=Arun Agarwal |page=298 |date= 15 Nov 2005 }}</ref> When describing his origins Cohen-Tannoudji said: "My family, originally from [[Tangier]], settled in Tunisia and then in Algeria in the 16th century after having fled Spain during the Inquisition. In fact, our name, Cohen-Tannoudji, means simply the Cohen family from Tangiers. The Algerian Jews obtained the French citizenship in 1870 after Algeria became a French colony in 1830."<ref name= bio>{{cite web|last=Claude Cohen-Tannoudji|title=Claude Cohen-Tannoudji - Autobiographical|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1997/cohen-tannoudji-bio.html|publisher=NobelPrize.org|access-date=13 February 2015}}</ref>

After finishing secondary school in [[Algiers]] in 1953, Cohen-Tannoudji left for [[Paris]] to attend the [[École normale supérieure|École Normale Supérieure]].<ref name=bio/> His professors included [[Henri Cartan]], [[Laurent Schwartz]], and [[Alfred Kastler]].<ref name=bio/>

In 1958 he married Jacqueline Veyrat, a high school teacher, with whom he has three children. His studies were interrupted when he was [[conscription|conscripted]] into the army, in which he served for 28 months (longer than usual because of the [[Algerian War]]). In 1960 he resumed working toward his [[doctorate]], which he obtained from the [[École normale supérieure|École Normale Supérieure]] under the supervision of [[Alfred Kastler]] and [[Jean Brossel]] at the end of 1962.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.phys.ens.fr/~cct/anglais/cct_en.htm|title=Claude Cohen-Tannoudji|website=www.phys.ens.fr|access-date=2017-12-21}}</ref>

==Career==
[[File:Paris de la Recherche - Claude Cohen-Tannoudji 7.jpg|thumb|left|Claude Cohen-Tannoudji in 2010]]
After his dissertation, he started teaching [[quantum mechanics]] at the [[University of Paris]]. From 1964-67, he was an associate professor at the university and from 1967-1973 he was a full professor.<ref name=":0" /> His lecture notes were the basis of the popular textbook, ''[[Quantum Mechanics (book)|Quantum Mechanics]]'' ({{langx|fr|Mécanique quantique}}), which he wrote with his colleagues {{Ill|Bernard Diu|fr}} and [[Franck Laloë]]. He also continued his research work on [[atom]]-[[photon]] interactions, and his research team developed the model of the ''[[light dressed state|dressed atom]]''.

In 1973, he became a professor at the [[Collège de France]].<ref name=":0" /> In the early 1980s, he started to lecture on radiative forces on atoms in [[laser]] light fields. He also formed a laboratory there with [[Alain Aspect]], [[Christophe Salomon]], and [[Jean Dalibard]] to study laser cooling and trapping. He even took a statistical approach to laser cooling with the use of [[stable distributions]].<ref>Bardou, F., Bouchaud, J. P., Aspect, A., & Cohen-Tannoudji, C. (2001). Non-ergodic cooling: subrecoil laser cooling and Lévy statistics.</ref>

In 1976, he took sabbatical leave from the Collège de France, and lectured at [[Harvard University]] and [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Claude Cohen-Tannoudji (Collège de France), "Atom-Photon Interactions" - MIT Physics Department Special Seminar 4/29/1992 |url=https://infinitehistory.mit.edu/video/claude-cohen-tannoudji-coll%C3%A8ge-de-france-atom-photon-interactions%E2%80%9D-mit-physics-department |publisher=MIT |access-date=9 September 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Curriculum Vitae (Claude Cohen-Tannoudji) |url=http://www.phys.ens.fr/~cct/anglais/cv_e.htm |publisher=École normale supérieure |access-date=9 September 2020}}</ref> At Harvard, he was a Loeb Lecturer for two weeks,<ref>{{cite web |title=Loeb and Lee Lectures Archive: 1953 - 1990 |url=https://www.physics.harvard.edu/loeblee3 |publisher=Harvard University |access-date=9 September 2020}}</ref> and at MIT, he was a visiting professor.<ref>{{cite web |title=Massachusetts Institute of Technology Bulletin (1975-1976) |url=https://libraries.mit.edu/archives/mithistory/presidents-reports/1976.pdf |publisher=MIT |access-date=9 September 2020 |archive-date=12 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211112064253/https://libraries.mit.edu/archives/mithistory/presidents-reports/1976.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

His work eventually led to the [[Nobel Prize]] in physics in 1997 "for the development of methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light", shared with [[Steven Chu]] and [[William Daniel Phillips]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1997/|title=The Nobel Prize in Physics 1997|date=1997|website=nobelprize.org|publisher=The Nobel Foundation|access-date=14 December 2014}}</ref> Cohen-Tannoudji was the first physics Nobel prize winner born in an Arab country.<ref>{{cite web |title=Claude Cohen-Tannoudji |url=https://www.osa.org/en-us/history/biographies/bios/claude-cohen-tannoudji/ |website=OSA Living History |publisher=The Optical Society |access-date=3 February 2020}}</ref>

In 2015, Cohen-Tannoudji signed the ''[[Mainau Declaration|Mainau Declaration 2015 on Climate Change]]'' on the final day of the 65th [[Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings|Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting]]. The declaration was signed by a total of 76 Nobel Laureates and handed to then-President of the French Republic, [[François Hollande]], as part of the successful [[Paris Climate Change Conference|COP21 climate summit]] in Paris.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.mainaudeclaration.org/|title=Mainau Declaration|website=www.mainaudeclaration.org|access-date=2018-01-11}}</ref>

==Awards==
[[File:Science et paix - Claude Cohen-Tannoudji.webm|thumb|Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, UNESCO, 2011]]
*1979 – [[Young Medal and Prize]], for distinguished research in the field of [[optics]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Thomas Young Medal and Prize recipients |url=https://www.iop.org/about/awards/silver-subject-medals/thomas-young-medal-and-prize-recipients |publisher=Institute of Physics |access-date=13 January 2022}}</ref>
*1991 – Research Award of Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
*1993 – [[Charles Hard Townes Award]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Charles Hard Townes Medal |url=https://www.optica.org/en-us/get_involved/awards_and_honors/awards/award_descriptions/charlestownes/ |publisher=Optica |access-date=13 January 2022}}</ref>
*1994 – [[Honorary degree|honorary doctorate]] from the Faculty of Science and Technology at [[Uppsala University]], [[Sweden]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.uu.se/en/about-uu/traditions/prizes/honorary-doctorates/|title=Honorary doctorates - Uppsala University, Sweden|website=www.uu.se|access-date=4 October 2018}}</ref>
*1996 – Quantum Electronics Prize of the European Physical Society
*1996 – [[CNRS Gold medal]]
*1997 – [[Nobel Prize]], for the development of methods to cool and trap atoms with [[laser]] light.
*2002 – Honorary Member of the [[Optica (society)|Optical Society]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Honorary Members {{!}} Optica |url=https://www.optica.org/get_involved/awards_and_honors/honorary_members/ |access-date=2024-09-11 |website=www.optica.org}}</ref>
*2010 – [[Legion of Honour]]

== Selected works ==
The main works of Cohen-Tannoudji are given in his homepage.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.phys.ens.fr/~cct/ |title=Claude Cohen-Tannoudji |publisher=École normale supérieure |language=fr | access-date=14 December 2014 }}</ref>

* Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, Bernard Diu, and Frank Laloë. 1973. ''Mécanique quantique''. 2 vols. Collection Enseignement des Sciences. Paris. {{ISBN|2-7056-5733-9}} (''[[Quantum Mechanics]]''. Vol. I & II, 1991. Wiley, New-York, {{ISBN|0-471-16433-X}} & {{ISBN|0-471-16435-6}}).
* Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, Gilbert Grynberg and Jacques Dupont-Roc. ''Introduction à l'électrodynamique quantique''. (''Photons and Atoms: Introduction to Quantum Electrodynamics''. 1997. Wiley. {{ISBN|0-471-18433-0}})
* Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, Gilbert Grynberg and Jacques Dupont-Roc, ''Processus d'interaction photons-atomes''. (''Atoms-Photon Interactions: Basic Processes and Applications''. 1992. Wiley, New-York. {{ISBN|0-471-62556-6}})
* Claude Cohen-Tannoudji. 2004. ''Atoms in Electromagnetic fields''. 2nd Edition. World Scientific. Collection of his most important papers.

==See also==
* [[List of Jewish Nobel laureates]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Claude Cohen-Tannoudji}}
{{wikiquote}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20120427082723/http://www.lkb.ens.fr/recherche/atfroids/welcome.html His research group]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20061010170219/http://www.phys.ens.fr/cours/college-de-france/ His lecture notes (in French)]
*{{Nobelprize}} including his Nobel Lecture, December 8, 1997 ''Manipulating Atoms with Photons''

{{Nobel Prize in Physics Laureates 1976-2000}}
{{1997 Nobel Prize winners}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cohen-Tannoudji, Claude}}
[[Category:1933 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Nobel laureates in Physics]]
[[Category:French Nobel laureates]]
[[Category:People from Constantine, Algeria]]
[[Category:African Sephardi Jews]]
[[Category:20th-century French Sephardi Jews]]
[[Category:21st-century French Sephardi Jews]]
[[Category:Jewish French scientists]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the Collège de France]]
[[Category:French physicists]]
[[Category:French optical physicists]]
[[Category:Laser researchers]]
[[Category:École Normale Supérieure alumni]]
[[Category:Members of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Foreign members of the Russian Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Great Cross of the National Order of Scientific Merit (Brazil)]]
[[Category:Massachusetts Institute of Technology staff]]
[[Category:Members of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Members of the French Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Foreign fellows of the Indian National Science Academy]]
[[Category:Jewish physicists]]
[[Category:Mizrahi Jews]]
[[Category:Articles containing video clips]]
[[Category:Fellows of the American Physical Society]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Matteucci Medal]]
[[Category:University of Paris alumni]]
[[Category:Jewish Nobel laureates]]

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Claude Cohen-Tannoudji