Carl Wieman

Carl Edwin Wieman
Born	26 3, 1951
Birthplace	Corvallis, Oregon, U.S.
Nationality	American
Occupation	Physicist, science educator
Title	Professor of Physics; Professor, Stanford Graduate School of Education; DRC Professor, Stanford School of Engineering; A. D. White Professor at Large, Cornell University
Employer	Stanford University, Cornell University
Known for	Bose–Einstein condensate, science education reform
Education	Ph.D., Stanford University (1977)
Awards	Nobel Prize in Physics (2001), Yidan Prize in Education Research (2020), Oersted Medal (2007)

Carl Edwin Wieman (born March 26, 1951) is an American physicist and science educator whose work spans two distinct but interconnected domains: the physics of ultracold atoms and the science of how students learn. Born in Corvallis, Oregon, Wieman rose to international prominence in 1995 when he and Eric Allin Cornell, working at the University of Colorado Boulder, produced the first true Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC)—an ultracold state of matter predicted decades earlier by Albert Einstein and Satyendra Nath Bose but never before observed in a laboratory. For this achievement, Wieman, Cornell, and Wolfgang Ketterle were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2001. In the years since receiving the Nobel Prize, Wieman has devoted much of his career to applying scientific methods to the improvement of undergraduate science education, developing research-based teaching techniques and interactive tools for STEM instruction. He currently holds a joint appointment as Professor of Physics and Professor in the Stanford Graduate School of Education, as well as the DRC Professor in the Stanford University School of Engineering. He also serves as the A. D. White Professor at Large at Cornell University.

Early Life

Carl Edwin Wieman was born on March 26, 1951, in Corvallis, Oregon, a city in the Willamette Valley known as the home of Oregon State University. He grew up in a rural environment in Oregon, where he spent much of his youth in the forests and woods of the Pacific Northwest. Wieman has spoken publicly about his upbringing, noting that his early education took place in modest settings far removed from the elite academic institutions where he would later make his career.

Wieman's path to physics was not a straightforward trajectory from childhood prodigy to Nobel laureate. His early experiences with formal education were, by his own account, mixed—a background that would later inform his interest in understanding why traditional teaching methods often fail to produce genuine learning in students. These formative experiences in Oregon laid the groundwork for both his scientific curiosity and his eventual commitment to reforming how science is taught at the university level.

Education

Wieman pursued his undergraduate education at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he studied physics. He then moved to Stanford University for his graduate work, earning his Ph.D. in physics in 1977 under the supervision of Theodor W. Hänsch, a German physicist who would himself go on to win the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2005. Wieman's doctoral dissertation, titled "Polarization Spectroscopy and the Measurement of the Lamb Shift in the Ground State of Hydrogen," focused on precision spectroscopy techniques—methods for using laser light to make extremely accurate measurements of atomic energy levels. This training in precision laser spectroscopy would prove foundational to the experimental techniques Wieman later used to trap and cool atoms to the extraordinarily low temperatures required to create a Bose–Einstein condensate.

Career

Early Research and Atomic Physics

After completing his doctorate at Stanford in 1977, Wieman pursued an academic career in experimental physics. He joined the faculty at the University of Michigan before moving to the University of Colorado Boulder, where he would conduct his most celebrated research. At Colorado, Wieman established himself as a leading experimentalist in the field of atomic, molecular, and optical physics (AMO physics), working on precision measurements of atomic properties and developing advanced laser-based techniques for manipulating atoms.

Throughout the 1980s, Wieman and his research group made significant contributions to laser spectroscopy and the study of atomic parity violation—experiments that used precision measurements of atoms to test fundamental predictions of the Standard Model of particle physics. These experiments required extraordinary control over individual atoms and the ability to measure their behavior with extreme precision—skills that would directly feed into the quest to produce a Bose–Einstein condensate.

Bose–Einstein Condensate

The achievement for which Wieman is best known occurred on June 5, 1995, when he and Eric Allin Cornell, a fellow physicist at the University of Colorado Boulder and a scientist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), succeeded in creating the first true Bose–Einstein condensate. A BEC is a state of matter that forms when a dilute gas of bosons is cooled to temperatures extremely close to absolute zero (approximately 170 nanokelvins, or 170 billionths of a degree above absolute zero). At these temperatures, a large fraction of the atoms occupy the lowest quantum state, causing quantum effects to become apparent on a macroscopic scale.

The theoretical basis for this state of matter had been laid in the 1920s, when Indian physicist Satyendra Nath Bose developed a statistical framework for photons, which Albert Einstein then extended to atoms, predicting that at sufficiently low temperatures, atoms would "condense" into a single quantum state. For decades, however, the experimental realization of this prediction remained elusive. Wieman and Cornell achieved the breakthrough by using a combination of laser cooling and evaporative cooling techniques to bring a gas of approximately 2,000 rubidium-87 atoms to the required ultralow temperatures.

The creation of BEC opened up entirely new areas of research in quantum physics, allowing scientists to study quantum mechanical phenomena on scales visible to laboratory instruments. Independently, Wolfgang Ketterle at MIT also produced a BEC shortly after Wieman and Cornell, and extended the research by demonstrating interference between two condensates, providing direct evidence of their coherent quantum nature.

In 2001, Wieman, Cornell, and Ketterle were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics "for the achievement of Bose–Einstein condensation in dilute gases of alkali atoms, and for early fundamental studies of the properties of the condensates." The Nobel Committee recognized not only the experimental achievement itself but also the broad implications the work held for fields ranging from quantum computing to precision metrology.

Among Wieman's notable doctoral students during his career in physics research was Christopher Monroe, who went on to become a prominent physicist in the field of quantum computing and trapped ion research.

Transition to Science Education Research

After receiving the Nobel Prize, Wieman increasingly turned his attention to a question that had been forming in his mind for years: why do so many students fail to develop a deep understanding of science even after completing university-level courses? As he described it, winning the Nobel Prize for "shining lasers on atoms" gave him both the platform and the freedom to pursue this second career in earnest.

Wieman approached science education not as a hobby or side interest but as a rigorous scientific problem. He began applying the methods of experimental science—controlled studies, data collection, hypothesis testing—to the question of how people learn. His research demonstrated that traditional lecture-based instruction, in which a professor speaks and students passively listen, is far less effective at producing genuine understanding than active learning techniques in which students engage directly with problems and concepts during class time.

In a 2020 interview with the Nobel Prize organization, Wieman articulated his philosophy of education: "Education is about learning to make better decisions." He argued that the goal of education should not be the memorization of facts but rather the development of decision-making skills and expert-like thinking patterns in a discipline.

Science Education Initiatives

Wieman launched several significant initiatives to translate his research findings into practical tools for educators. At the University of Colorado Boulder, he founded the Physics Education Technology (PhET) project, which develops free, interactive, research-based simulations for teaching science. These simulations, covering topics in physics, chemistry, biology, earth science, and mathematics, have been used by millions of students and educators worldwide.

He also established the Carl Wieman Science Education Initiative (CWSEI) at the University of British Columbia, a multimillion-dollar project aimed at transforming undergraduate science teaching across entire departments. The initiative embedded science teaching and learning specialists within science departments to work alongside faculty members in redesigning courses based on research evidence about how students learn.

White House and Policy Work

Wieman's expertise in science education led to a period of engagement with federal science policy. He served as Associate Director for Science in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) under President Barack Obama, bringing his research-based perspective on education to the highest levels of government science policy.

Stanford University

After his time in Washington, Wieman joined Stanford University, where he holds a joint appointment as Professor of Physics and Professor in the Stanford Graduate School of Education, as well as the DRC Professor in the Stanford University School of Engineering. This unusual joint appointment across three schools reflects the interdisciplinary nature of his work, which sits at the intersection of physics, education research, and engineering education.

At Stanford, Wieman has continued to research and advocate for evidence-based teaching practices. His work has focused on identifying the specific cognitive skills that characterize expert thinking in science and engineering disciplines, and on developing teaching methods that help students acquire these skills more effectively than traditional approaches. He has also studied how to measure teaching quality in rigorous, research-based ways, arguing that the standard practice of evaluating teaching through student course evaluations is deeply flawed and fails to capture actual learning outcomes.

Cornell University

In addition to his positions at Stanford, Wieman serves as the A. D. White Professor at Large at Cornell University, a visiting professorship that brings distinguished scholars to the Cornell campus for extended visits. In this capacity, Wieman has visited Cornell to work with students and faculty, and to deliver public lectures on both his physics research and his education research.

Continued Public Engagement

Wieman has remained active as a public speaker and advocate for science education reform. In 2025, he delivered lectures at institutions including the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, where he gave a free public lecture on "the science of teaching" as well as a physics seminar. He has also been invited to deliver the annual Laureate Lecture at California State University, Long Beach, hosted by the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics Student Council.

Personal Life

Wieman has kept much of his personal life out of the public spotlight, consistent with his preference for focusing public attention on his scientific and educational work rather than on personal matters. He has been open about the fact that his interest in education reform stems in part from his own experiences as a student and as a teacher who observed the limitations of conventional instruction.

In April 2023, the University of Maine announced that Wieman would receive an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from the institution, recognizing him as "an internationally recognized researcher and educator."

Recognition

Wieman's contributions to physics and education have been recognized with numerous honors and awards. His most prominent recognition includes:

The Nobel Prize in Physics (2001), shared with Eric Allin Cornell and Wolfgang Ketterle, "for the achievement of Bose–Einstein condensation in dilute gases of alkali atoms, and for early fundamental studies of the properties of the condensates."

The Yidan Prize in Education Research (2020), one of the world's largest education prizes, awarded to Wieman "for his contribution in developing new techniques and tools in STEM education." The Yidan Prize recognized Wieman's work in applying scientific methods to the study and improvement of teaching and learning.

The Oersted Medal (2007), awarded by the American Association of Physics Teachers, recognizing notable contributions to the teaching of physics.

Wieman has also received an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from the University of Maine (2023), recognizing his dual contributions to physics research and science education.

His work has been featured in numerous major publications, including Scientific American, which published an article examining his research on the ineffectiveness of traditional lecturing. The journal Science, published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), has covered his career transitions and educational initiatives.

Wieman has held patents related to his work in physics.

Legacy

Carl Wieman's legacy is defined by contributions to two fields that are rarely combined at the highest levels: experimental physics and science education research. In physics, the creation of the first Bose–Einstein condensate in 1995 confirmed a theoretical prediction that had stood unverified for seven decades and opened new experimental frontiers in quantum mechanics. BEC research has since expanded into areas including atom lasers, quantum simulation, and studies of superfluidity and superconductivity, with laboratories around the world building on the techniques that Wieman and Cornell pioneered.

In education, Wieman's insistence on applying scientific rigor to the study of teaching and learning has helped shift the conversation about science education from one based on tradition and intuition to one grounded in empirical evidence. His PhET simulations have reached millions of users globally, and his departmental transformation initiatives at the University of Colorado Boulder and the University of British Columbia have served as models for institutions seeking to improve undergraduate STEM education at scale.

Wieman's argument that education should be treated as a science—subject to the same standards of evidence and experimentation as physics or chemistry—has influenced a generation of educators and administrators. His work has contributed to a growing body of research demonstrating that active learning methods produce measurably better outcomes than traditional lectures in STEM courses.

His dual career also represents an unusual model of how a scientist can leverage the credibility and resources that come with the highest recognition in one field to make substantive contributions to another. By framing education reform as a scientific endeavor rather than a matter of opinion, Wieman has helped legitimize science education research as a field of inquiry within research universities.