PIRSA:08060002

Time and Einstein in the 21st Century: The coolest stuff in the universe

Phillips, W.(. (2008). Time and Einstein in the 21st Century: The coolest stuff in the universe. Perimeter Institute. https://pirsa.org/08060002

Phillips, William (Bill). Time and Einstein in the 21st Century: The coolest stuff in the universe. Perimeter Institute, Jun. 04, 2008, https://pirsa.org/08060002 

          @misc{ pirsa_PIRSA:08060002,
            doi = {},
            url = {https://pirsa.org/08060002},
            author = {Phillips, William (Bill)},
            keywords = {},
            language = {en},
            title = {Time and Einstein in the 21st Century: The coolest stuff in the universe},
            publisher = {Perimeter Institute},
            year = {2008},
            month = {jun},
            note = {PIRSA:08060002 see, \url{https://pirsa.org}}
          }

William (Bill) Phillips

National Institute of Standards and Technology

Talk number
PIRSA:08060002
Collection
Talk Type
Abstract
At the beginning of the 20th century Einstein published three revolutionary ideas that changed forever how we view Nature. At the beginning of the 21st century Einstein\'s thinking is shaping one of the key scientific and technological wonders of contemporary life: atomic clocks, the best timekeepers ever made. Such super-accurate clocks are essential to industry, commerce, and science; they are the heart of the Global Positioning System (GPS), which guides cars, airplanes, and hikers to their destinations. Today, atomic clocks are still being improved, using Einstein\'s ideas to cool the atoms to incredibly low temperatures. Atomic gases reach temperatures less than a billionth of a degree above Absolute Zero, without solidifying. Such atoms enable clocks accurate to better than a second in 60 million years as well as both using and testing some of Einstein\'s strangest predictions. This will be a lively, multimedia presentation, including experimental demonstrations and down-to-earth explanations about some of today\'s most exciting science. Low temperature physics, atomic clock, global positioning system, laser cooling, Bose Einstein condensate, photoelectric effect, Brownian motion, special relativity