Daniel Kleppner
American physicist (1932–2025)
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Daniel Kleppner (December 16, 1932 – June 16, 2025) was an American physicist who was the Lester Wolfe Professor Emeritus of Physics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and co-founder and co-director of the MIT-Harvard Center for Ultracold Atoms. His areas of science included atomic, molecular, and optical physics, and his research interests included experimental atomic physics, laser spectroscopy, and high precision measurements.[2]
Daniel Kleppner | |
|---|---|
| Born | December 16, 1932 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | June 16, 2025 (aged 92) Palo Alto, California, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Williams College (BA) University of Cambridge Harvard University (PhD) |
| Known for | Hydrogen maser |
| Spouse |
Beatrice Spencer (m. 1958) |
| Children | 3 |
| Awards | Lilienfeld Prize (1991) MIT Killian Award (1995-96) Oersted Medal (1997) Wolf Prize in Physics (2005) National Medal of Science (2006) Frederic Ives Medal (2007) Franklin Institute Award (2014) APS Medal for Exceptional Achievement in Research (2017) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | AMO physics |
| Institutions | MIT |
| Thesis | The Broken Beam Resonance Experiment (1959) |
| Doctoral advisor | Norman Ramsey |
| Doctoral students | David E. Pritchard[citation needed] William Daniel Phillips[citation needed] Julia Steinberger[1] |
| Website | physics |
Working with Norman Ramsey Jr., he helped create the first hydrogen maser in 1960.[3]
Together with Robert J. Kolenkow, he authored a popular textbook An Introduction to Mechanics for advanced students.[4]
Early life
Kleppner was born in New York City on December 16, 1932, and grew up in nearby New Rochelle, New York.[5] His father was Otto Kleppner, founder of an advertising agency.[6]
Education and career
Kleppner graduated from Williams College with a B.A. in 1953 in Williamstown, Massachusetts. He also attended Cambridge University in England with a B.A. in 1955, and Harvard University, he attended the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, with a Ph.D. in 1959.[7]
In the 1950s, Kleppner became a physics doctoral student at Harvard University, where he worked under Norman Ramsey. Here, Kleppner took the concepts behind an ammonia maser and applied them to a hydrogen maser, which became his Ph.D. thesis. This enabled the development of more precise atomic clocks. Kleppner did important research into Rydberg atoms,[8] which enabled development of the neutral atom quantum computer.[9]
Later, he became interested in creating a hydrogen Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC). In 1995, a group of researchers, including Kleppner's former students, made a BEC using rubidium atoms. It was not until 1998 that Kleppner and Tom Greytak finally created a hydrogen BEC.[10] The advancements in cooling technology needed to achieve this contributed to even more precise atomic clocks.[9] Kleppner went on to become one of the founders of a MIT-Harvard joint research lab, the Center for Ultracold Atoms.[9]
Personal life and death
Honors and awards
Kleppner was the recipient of many awards including
- 1991 Lilienfeld Prize,
- 1991 William F. Meggers Award,[14]
- 1997 Oersted Medal,
- 2005 Wolf Prize in Physics,[15]
- 2006 National Medal of Science
- 2007 Frederic Ives Medal,
- 2014 Benjamin Franklin Medal,[16] and
- 2017 American Physical Society Medal for Exceptional Achievement in Research.[17]
Within MIT he won the institute's prestigious James R. Killian, Jr. Faculty Achievement Award, conferring him the title of Killian Award Lecturer[18] for 1995-1996.[19]
He was elected the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1986,[20] a Fellow of OSA in 1992,[21] the French Academy of Sciences in 2004,[22] and the American Philosophical Society in 2007.[23]
Books
Kleppner and Robert J. Kolenkow wrote An Introduction to Mechanics in 1973. 40 years later, Kleppner and Kolenkow returned to edit and publish a second edition in 2013.
- Kleppner, Daniel; Robert J. Kolenkow (1973). An Introduction to Mechanics. New York: McGraw-Hill. ISBN 978-0-07-035048-9.
- Kleppner, Daniel (2013). An Introduction to Mechanics (1st ed.). Cambridge. ISBN 9780511784118.[24]
- Kleppner, Daniel (2013). An Introduction to Mechanics (2nd ed.). Cambridge. ISBN 9780521198110.[25]
Kleppner and his thesis adviser (and Nobel laureate) Norman Ramsey wrote the text Quick Calculus, joined for the 3rd edition by MIT professor Peter Dourmashkin:
- Kleppner, Daniel; Ramsey, Norman (1972). Quick calculus: for self-study or classroom use (1st ed.). New York: Wiley. ISBN 9780471491125.
- Kleppner, Daniel; Ramsey, Norman (1985). Quick Calculus: a self-teaching guide (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Wiley. ISBN 0471827223.
- Kleppner, Daniel; Dourmashkin, Peter; Ramsey, Norman (April 8, 2022). Quick Calculus: A Self-Teaching Guide (3rd ed.). Jossey-Bass. ISBN 978-1-119-74319-4.
Selected publications
- Thomas J. Greytak; Daniel Kleppner (2001). "Bose-Einstein Condensation". McGraw-Hill Yearbook of Science and Technology: 64–67.
- D. G. Fried; T. C. Killian; L. Willmann; D. Landhuis; S. C. Moss; D. Kleppner; T. J. Greytak (1998). "Bose-Einstein Condensation of Atomic Hydrogen". Physical Review Letters. 81 (18): 3811. arXiv:physics/9809017. Bibcode:1998PhRvL..81.3811F. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.81.3811. S2CID 3174641.
- T. C. Killian; D. G. Fried; L. Willmann; D. Landhuis; S. C. Moss; T. J. Greytak; D. Kleppner (1998). "Cold Collision Frequency Shift of the 1S-2S Transition in Hydrogen". Physical Review Letters. 81 (18): 3807. arXiv:physics/9809016. Bibcode:1998PhRvL..81.3807K. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.81.3807. S2CID 18665492.
- C. L. Cesar; D. G. Fried; T. C. Killian; A. D. Polcyn; J. C. Sandberg; I. A. Yu; T. J. Greytak; D. Kleppner (1996). "Two-Photon Spectroscopy of Trapped Atomic Hydrogen". Physical Review Letters. 77 (2): 255–258. Bibcode:1996PhRvL..77..255C. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.77.255. hdl:1721.1/11193. PMID 10062405.
- T. C. Killian; D. G. Fried; C. L. Cesar; A. D. Polycn; T. J. Greytak; D. Kleppner (1996). "Doppler-Free Spectroscopy of Trapped Atomic Hydrogen". Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Atomic Physics.
