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Physics
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Lene Vestergaard Hau
- Professor of Applied Physics and Professor of Physics, Harvard
University
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Lene Hau, the
scientist who stopped light completely, then released it at will, is the
recent recipient of a $500,000 MacArthur Fellowship.
Dr. Hau, along with 22 other recipients receives $100,000 a year for
five years. According to the
fellowship rules by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation of
Chicago, there are no stipulations on how the money is to be spent.
Award selection for the prestigious fellowship is as remarkable as its
recipients. There is no
application or interview prior to the award.
Those who nominate and select the winners remain anonymous.
Jonathan Fantom, President of the MacArthur Foundation believes
awardees possess ‘the imagination and fresh ideas that can improve
people’s lives and bring about movement on important issues.’
Hau’s meteoric career is
certainly testimony to this tribute. In
1989 she accepted a two-year appointment as a postdoctoral fellow in Physics
at Harvard University. She
received her Ph.D. degree from the University of Aarhus in Denmark in 1991.
Her formalized training is in theoretical physics but her interest
moved to experimental research in an effort to create a new form of matter
known as a Bose-Einstein condensate. In
1991 she joined the Rowland Institute for Science at Cambridge as a
scientific staff member. Since
1999 she has held the Gordon McKay Professor of Applied Physics and
Professor of Physics at Harvard.
Dr. Hau’s scientific and service
contributions have been recognized through honors that include the MacArthur
Fellow 2001-2006; the NKT
award, awarded by the Danish Physical Society,
2001; the Ole Rømer
Medal, awarded by the president of the University of Copenhagen, 2001;
an Honorary Degree, Æreshåndværker Kjøbenhavns Håndværkerforening,
awarded in the presence of Her Majesty, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark,
Copenhagen, 2001; recipient of
the Samuel Friedman Rescue Award, awarded by the Friedman Foundation,
University of California, Los Angeles, 2001;
recipient of the Year 2000 Award from the Top Danmark Foundation,
Copenhagen Denmark, 2000; recipient of the J.C. Jacobsen 200 Year Anniversary Award,
awarded by the Carlsberg Foundation, Denmark, 1989; and recipient of the Research Fellowship, 1986-1989, awarded
by the Faculty of Sciences, University of Aarhus, Denmark.
Dr. Hau recently was awarded an honorary
appointment to the Royal
Danish Academy of Sciences.
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