a panoramic view of Marsh Lecture Hall at Yale University

Prize Lectures

Hanan Rosenthal Memorial Lecture

The Hanan Rosenthal Memorial Lecture was established in 1973 in honor of physicist Hanan Rosenthal, a brilliant graduate student at Columbia University and instructor at Yale. This annual lecture in atomic physics, Rosenthal’s field, is given by a distinguished leader in the field. Originally, the lecture series alternated between Columbia and Yale, which were both significant in Hanan Rosenthal’s career; in recent years, the lecture has been held only at Yale University.

Most Recent Speaker:

Event Information

  • 44th: Jean Dalibard, Laboratoire Kastler Brossel, Collège de France (April 28, 2025)
  • 43rd: Francesca Ferlaino, IQOQI-Innsbruck, Austrian Academy of Sciences, “Supersolidity in dipolar quantum gases: when atoms behave as crystal and superfluid at the same time” (September 19, 2022) 
  • 42nd: Immanuel Bloch, Max-Planck Institute of Quantum Optics, “Realizing Feynman’s Dream of a Quantum Simulator” (February 2019)
  • 41st: Alain Aspect, Institut d’Optique, “From the Einstein-Bohr debate to quantum information: the second quantum revolution” (February 2018)
  • 40th: Jun Ye, JILA, National Institute of Standards and Technology and the University of Colorado, “Making the World’s Best Clock” (February 2014)
  • 39th: Markus Arndt, University of Vienna, “Macromolecular matter-waves and the experimental frontiers of quantum mechanics: On the relation between molecular zoology and Schrödinger’s cat” (April 2013)
  • 38th: Margaret Murnane, JILA, “Science at the Timescale of the Electron – Capturing the Fastest Motions in our Physical World” (April 2012)
  • 37th: Tilman Esslinger, ETH, “From Synthetic Quantum Many-Body Systems to Quantum Simulation” (April 2011)
  • 36th: David Pritchard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, “Are They Really Learning, and What Seems to Help?” (October 2009)
  • 35th: Tilman Pfau, University of Stuttgart, “Novel interactions in quantum gas” (January 2009)
  • 34th: Jean Michel Raimond, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France, “Quantum jumps of light” (November 2007)
  • 33rd: Anton Zeilinger, University of Vienna, “Quantum Measurement:
    A problem becoming a resource” (October 2006)
  • 32nd: Wolfgang Ketterle, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, “New forms of quantum matter near absolute zero temperature” (December 2005)
  • 31st: Gerald Gabrielse, Harvard University, “Setting a Trap for Antimatter” (January 2005)
  • 30th: Deborah Jin, “Making Condensates with a Fermi Gas of Atoms” (April 2004)
  • 29th: Mark G. Raizen, “Guiding Neuronal Growth with Light New Frontiers in Controlling the Motion of Matter with Light: from single atoms to neurons” (November 2002)
  • 28th: Eric Cornell, JILA, “Bose-Einstein condensation: Science within a millionth of a degree of absolute zero” (November 2001)
  • 27th: Christophe Salomon, “Cold Atom Clocks” (April 2001)
  • 26th: Peter Zoller, “Quantum Computing and Communication with Quantum Optics” (March 2000)
  • 25th: Eugene Commins, “Search for Electric Dipole Moment of the Electron” (April 1999)
  • 24th: H. Jeffrey Kimble, “Quantum Information and Computation” (April 1997)
  • 23rd: Randall G. Hulet, “Bose-Einstein Condensation of an Atomic Gas” (October 1995)
  • 22nd: Philip H. Bucksbaum, “Above Threshold Ionization and Stron Field Coherent Control” (March 1995)
  • 21st: at Columbia, no information
  • 20th: Louis A. Bloomfield, “Magnetism in Cluster: Between Atoms and Solids” (April 1993)
  • 19th: V. Chetabaev
  • 18th: William D. Phillips, “Optical Molasses, New Laser Cooling Mechanisms, and the Coldest Gas in the Universe” (December 1989)
  • 17th: Paul Liao, “Optoelectronics: Present Status and Future Prospects” (April 1989)
  • 16th: Carl Weiman, “Atomic Physics Studies of the Electro-Weak Interaction” (September 1988)
  • 15th: John Briggs, “Molecular Orbitals in Atomic Physics” (February 1987)
  • 14th: David Wineland, “Laser Cooled Trapped Ions” (April 1986)
  • 13th: A. Ravu Rau, “The Atomic Electron Pair” (March 1985)
  • 12th: Serge Haroche, “QED with Rydberg Atoms in Cavities” (April 1984)
  • 11th: Peter M. Koch, “Excited Atom Physics” (January 1983)
  • 10th: Thomas F. Gallagher, “Resonant Rydberg Atom Collisions” (March 1982)
  • 9th: William H. Wing, “One-and-Two-Electron Molecular Ions” (February 1981)
  • 8th: Norman Tolk, “Quantum Interference in Ion-Atom and Ion-Surface Collisions” (March 1980)
  • 7th: Norman F. Ramsey, “Dipole Moments and Spin Rotations of the Neutron” (April 1979)
  • 6th: E. Norval Forston, “The Search for Parity Violating Optical Rotation in Atoms: Recent Results” (March 1978)
  • 5th: W. Carl Lineberger, “Photo Detachment Threshold Processes” (April 1977)
  • 4th: Joseph Macek, “Orientation and Alignment in Atomic Collisions” (March 1976)
  • 3rd: Theodore W. Hansch, “Doppler-Free Atomic Spectroscopy Using Lasers” (April 1975)
  • 2nd: Willis E. Lamb, Jr., “Irreversible Processes” (April 1974)
  • 1st: Ugo Fano, “Energy Conversion in Atomic Collisions” (March 1973)

Prize Lectures

Leigh Page Prize Lectures

Hanan Rosenthal Memorial Lectures

Miller-Breit Memorial Lecture

Vernon W. Hughes Lecture

Howard L. Schultz, Sr. Prize Lecture