Two New Honors for NIST Physicists

David Wineland, physicist and fellow of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), is a 2008 recipient of a Bonfils-Stanton Foundation Award, given annually by a private, nonprofit corporation to outstanding Coloradans in three fields. Wineland was chosen in the Science & Medicine category. He will be recognized at a luncheon in early May and receive a cash award from the Bonfils-Stanton Foundation.

The award citation notes that Wineland is a pioneer and world-recognized leader in low-temperature atomic physics. His team has recently been credited with developing the world's most accurate atomic clock. Wineland's work with trapped ions (electrically charged atoms) has applications in high-performance atomic clocks and quantum computing.

Deborah Jin, a physicist at JILA, a joint institute of NIST and the University of Colorado at Boulder, has been awarded the 2008 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Physics. Jin was honored for her pioneering investigations of the quantum properties of an ultracold gas of fermionic atoms, atoms that cannot occupy the same quantum state, and in particular for the creation of the first quantized gas of fermionic atoms.

The Franklin Institute has been honoring the best in science, engineering and technology for 184 years. The Franklin Institute Awards identify individuals whose great innovation has benefited humanity, advanced science, launched new fields of inquiry and deepened our understanding of the universe.

For further information, see http://sln.fi.edu/franklinawards/08/laureate_bf_physics-jin.html