Claude Cohen-Tannoudji

About Claude Cohen-Tannoudji

Who is it?: Physicist
Birth Day: April 01, 1933
Birth Place: Constantine, Algeria, French
Alma mater: Ecole Normale Supérieure
Spouse(s): Jacqueline Veyrat (m. 1958)
Children: 3
Awards: Young Medal and Prize (1979) Lilienfeld Prize (1992) Matteucci Medal (1994) Harvey Prize (1996) Nobel Prize in Physics (1997)
Fields: Physics
Institutions: College de France University of Paris
Doctoral advisor: Alfred Kastler
Doctoral students: Serge Haroche Jean Dalibard

Claude Cohen-Tannoudji

Claude Cohen-Tannoudji was born on April 01, 1933 in Constantine, Algeria, French, is Physicist. Claude Cohen-Tannoudji is a French physicist who won a share of the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics. Known for research in methods of laser cooling and trapping atoms, he collaborated with his colleagues at the École Normale Supérieure (ENS) to build on the works of fellow physicists Steven Chu and William Daniel Phillips which led to new mechanisms for cooling and trapping atoms with laser light. Born in Algeria (which was then part of France) in the early 1930s, he grew up during a period of political turmoil in Europe and the French colonies. Fortunately his family was saved from persecution at the hands of the Nazis due to the timely arrival of the Americans in Algeria in 1942. After completing his high school, he left Algeria for Paris where he was admitted to the Ecole Normale Supérieure (ENS). There he attended lectures by Henri Cartan, Laurent Schwartz, and Alfred Kastler and was especially influenced by Kastler who taught physics. After spending a stint with the army, he returned to Kastler’s laboratory for doctoral research. He embarked on an academic career after completing his PhD and started teaching at the University of Paris while continuing to work as a research scientist in the department of physics at ENS. It was over the course of his research there that he successfully expanded on the work of Chu and Phillips leading to their Nobel Prize winning discoveries.
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As per our current Database, Claude Cohen-Tannoudji is still alive (as per Wikipedia, Last update: May 10, 2020).

🎂 Claude Cohen-Tannoudji - Age, Bio, Faces and Birthday

Currently, Claude Cohen-Tannoudji is 91 years, 7 months and 3 days old. Claude Cohen-Tannoudji will celebrate 92rd birthday on a Tuesday 1st of April 2025. Below we countdown to Claude Cohen-Tannoudji upcoming birthday.

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Popular As Claude Cohen-Tannoudji
Occupation Scientists
Age 90 years old
Zodiac Sign Taurus
Born April 01, 1933 (Constantine, Algeria, French)
Birthday April 01
Town/City Constantine, Algeria, French
Nationality French

🌙 Zodiac

Claude Cohen-Tannoudji’s zodiac sign is Taurus. According to astrologers, Taurus is practical and well-grounded, the sign harvests the fruits of labor. They feel the need to always be surrounded by love and beauty, turned to the material world, hedonism, and physical pleasures. People born with their Sun in Taurus are sensual and tactile, considering touch and taste the most important of all senses. Stable and conservative, this is one of the most reliable signs of the zodiac, ready to endure and stick to their choices until they reach the point of personal satisfaction.

🌙 Chinese Zodiac Signs

Claude Cohen-Tannoudji was born in the Year of the Rooster. Those born under the Chinese Zodiac sign of the Rooster are practical, resourceful, observant, analytical, straightforward, trusting, honest, perfectionists, neat and conservative. Compatible with Ox or Snake.

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Biography/Timeline

1870

Cohen-Tannoudji was born in Constantine, French Algeria, to Algerian Jewish parents Abraham Cohen-Tannoudji and Sarah Sebbah. When describing his origins Cohen-Tannoudji said: "My family, originally from Tangier, settled in Tunisia and then in Algeria in the 16th century after having fled Spain during the Inquisition. In fact, our name, Cohen-Tannoudji, means simply the Cohen family from Tangiers. The Algerian Jews obtained the French citizenship in 1870 after Algeria became a French colony in 1830."

1953

After finishing secondary school in Algiers in 1953, Cohen-Tannoudji left for Paris to attend the École Normale Supérieure. His professors included Henri Cartan, Laurent Schwartz, and Alfred Kastler.

1958

In 1958 he married Jacqueline Veyrat, a high school Teacher, with whom he has three children. His studies were interrupted when he was conscripted into the army, in which he served for 28 months (longer than usual because of the Algerian War). In 1960 he resumed working toward his doctorate, which he obtained from the École Normale Supérieure under the supervision of Alfred Kastler and Jean Brossel at the end of 1962.

1964

After his dissertation, he started teaching quantum mechanics at the University of Paris. From 1964-67, he was an associate professor at the university and from 1967-1973 he was a full professor. His lecture notes were the basis of the popular textbook, Mécanique quantique, which he wrote with two of his colleagues. He also continued his research work on atom-photon interactions, and his research team developed the model of the dressed atom.

1973

In 1973, he became a professor at the Collège de France. In the early 1980s, he started to lecture on radiative forces on atoms in laser light fields. He also formed a laboratory there with Alain Aspect, Christophe Salomon, and Jean Dalibard to study laser cooling and trapping. He even took a statistical approach to laser cooling with the use of stable distributions.

1997

His work there eventually led to the Nobel Prize in physics in 1997 "for the development of methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light", shared with Steven Chu and William Daniel Phillips. Cohen-Tannoudji was the first physics Nobel prize winner born in an Arab country.

2015

In 2015, Cohen-Tannoudji signed the Mainau Declaration 2015 on Climate Change on the final day of the 65th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting. The declaration was signed by a total of 76 Nobel Laureates and handed to then-President of the French Republic, François Hollande, as part of the successful COP21 climate summit in Paris.

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