Markus Greiner is a German

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

and Professor of

Physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

. Greiner studied under the Nobel Laureate

Theodor Hänsch Theodor is a masculine given name. It is a German form of Theodore. It is also a variant of Teodor. List of people with the given name Theodor * Theodor Adorno, (1903–1969), German philosopher * Theodor Aman, Romanian painter * Theodor Bluege ...

at the

Ludwig-Maximilians University The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's sixth-oldest university in continuous operatio ...

and at the Max-Planck-Institute of Quantum Optics, where he received his diploma and PhD in

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

for experimental work on Bose-Einstein condensates and bosons in

optical lattice An optical lattice is formed by the interference of counter-propagating laser beams, creating a spatially periodic polarization pattern. The resulting periodic potential may trap neutral atoms via the Stark shift. Atoms are cooled and congrega ...

s. He was involved in the first realization of the

quantum phase transition In physics, a quantum phase transition (QPT) is a phase transition between different quantum phases ( phases of matter at zero temperature). Contrary to classical phase transitions, quantum phase transitions can only be accessed by varying a phys ...

from a

superfluid Superfluidity is the characteristic property of a fluid with zero viscosity which therefore flows without any loss of kinetic energy. When stirred, a superfluid forms vortices that continue to rotate indefinitely. Superfluidity occurs in two ...

Mott insulator Mott insulators are a class of materials that are expected to conduct electricity according to conventional band theories, but turn out to be insulators (particularly at low temperatures). These insulators fail to be correctly described by band ...

in a Bose-Hubbard system. He then moved to the United States and conducted postdoctoral research at

JILA JILA, formerly known as the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics, is a physical science research institute in the United States. JILA is located on the University of Colorado Boulder campus. JILA was founded in 1962 as a joint institute ...

under Deborah Jin, working on the creation of a

fermionic condensate A fermionic condensate or Fermi–Dirac condensate is a superfluid phase formed by fermionic particles at low temperatures. It is closely related to the Bose–Einstein condensate, a superfluid phase formed by bosonic atoms under similar cond ...

ultracold atom Ultracold atoms are atoms that are maintained at temperatures close to 0 kelvin (absolute zero), typically below several tens of microkelvin (µK). At these temperatures the atom's quantum-mechanical properties become important. To reach such low ...

s. Since 2005 Greiner has been a professor at Harvard University, continuing research on BECs and ultracold Fermi gases. He was recipient of the Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Research in AMO award of the American Physical Society in 2004 and the William L. McMillan award in 2005 for outstanding contributions in condensed matter physics. In 2011, he was named a

MacArthur Fellow The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and commonly but unofficially known as the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to between 20 and 30 indi ...

. He was awarded the I. I. Rabi Prize in Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics by the APS in 2013. In 2017 he was elected a fellow of the American Physical Society.

References

External links

Greiner Group website at Harvard University
{{DEFAULTSORT:Greiner, Markus 21st-century German physicists Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich alumni Living people 1973 births MacArthur Fellows Fellows of the American Physical Society