Video Clips from Press conference:
Cornell and Wieman Answer Questions
about the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physics

By clicking on the following links you will launch streaming video clips of the press conference hosted by JILA on October 9, 2001. Eric Cornell and Carl Wieman of JILA answered questions from reporters about the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physics, which they shared with Wolfgang Ketterle of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. JILA is a joint institute of the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the University of Colorado at Boulder. The press conference was held at JILA, which is located on the campus of the University of Colorado, Boulder. A full transcript of the press conference is also available.

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Comments from Elizabeth Hoffman, president of the University of Colorado

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Comments from Susan Sutherland, director, NIST Boulder Laboratories

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Opening comments from Eric Cornell

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Question:
This has come early in your careers relatively--you both have a number of years left in your careers. Can you comment on that?

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Question:
When you guys realized what you had discovered, were you immediately aware of the caliber of the discovery--that it might someday win a Nobel? [First speaker is Carl Weiman]

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Question:
How did both of you find out?

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Question:
What are the potential applications of Bose-Einstein condensates?

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Question:
Give me your thoughts on what it's like to know that you're the reason that the science books are all going to have to change now.

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Question:
The theory had been around since 1925. What was the barrier to actually proving it or realizing it, if it's that simple?

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Question:
How do you explain to your freshman non-majors, what is a Bose-Enstein condensate?

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Question:
They are atoms of what?

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Question:
How long does the superatom state last and have you been able to extend that?

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Question:
Do you keep working on the same rubidium atoms in a cycle or do you have to get new ones?

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Date created: 11/21/2001
Last updated: Aug. 02, 2007
Contact: inquiries@nist.gov