Thomas J. Greytak ’63 PhD ’67

Lester Wolfe Professor of Physics, Emeritus
With his colleague Daniel Kleppner, he helped to pioneer the field of Bose-Einstein condensation and quantum gasses.
Research Areas
Condensed Matter Experiment
headshot
(617) 253-6818
Office: 6C-431
Lab(s): Ultracold Hydrogen Group
Affiliated Center(s): Condensed Matter Experiment Group, MIT-Harvard Center for Ultracold Atoms

Research Interests

  • Raman and Brillouin scattering using lasers
  • Studies of gasses and condensed matter systems near absolute zero
  • Bose-Einstein Condensation in atomic hydrogen

Biographical Sketch

  • Received SB and MS degrees in Electrical Engineering (1963) and a PhD in Physics (1967), all from MIT
  • Joined the physics faculty at MIT as an Assistant Professor in 1967
  • Division Head for Atomic, Condensed Matter and Plasma Physics from 1988 to 1997
  • Associate Physics Department Head For Education from 1997 until retirement in 2011
  • Named the Lester Wolfe Professor of Physics in 2007

Awards & Honors

  • 2020 // Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award by Marquis Who's Who
  • 2015 // International BEC Senior Prize (shared with Daniel Kleppner and Harald Hess) "for the invention of the technique of evaporative cooling and the observation of Bose-Einstein Condensation in atomic hydrogen."
  • 2015 // American Academy of Arts and Sciences Fellow
  • 2007 // Appointed Lester Wolfe Professor of Physics
  • 2003 // Dean’s Educational and Student Advising Award of the School of Science
  • 1995-05 // Margaret MacVicar Faculty Fellow, MIT (Honors MIT's Best Teachers)
  • 1993 // MIT School of Science Prize for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching
  • 1993 // Buechner Faculty Teaching Prize, MIT Physics
  • 1981 // American Physical Society Fellow
  • 1971 // Sloan Research Fellowship

Key Publications

  • Bose-Einstein Condensation of Atomic Hydrogen, D. G. Fried, T. C. Killian, L. Willmann, D. Landhuis, S. C. Moss, D. Kleppner, and T. J. Greytak, Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 3811 (1998)

  • Two-Photon Spectroscopy of Trapped Atomic Hydrogen, C. L. Cesar, D. G. Fried, T. C. Killian, A. D. Polcyn, J. C. Sandberg, I. A. Yu, T. J.Greytak, D. Kleppner, and J. M. Doyle, Phys. Rev. Lett. 77, 255 (1996)

  • Evidence for Universal Quantum Reflection of Hydrogen from Liquid 4He , Ite A. Yu, John M. Doyle, Jon C. Sandberg, Claudio L. Cesar, Daniel Kleppner and Thomas J. Greytak, Phys. Rev. Lett. 71, 1589 (1993)