“Nobel Prize in physics in 1997, Claude Cohen-Tannoudji was an exceptional researcher, an outstanding mentor and a fervent defender of fundamental research.
“His legacy will continue to inspire generations of researchers.”
Cohen-Tannoudji died at his home in Paris on October 22.
In a biography posted on the Nobel Prize website, Cohen-Tannoudji. stated that he was “born on April 1, 1933 in Constantine, Algeria, which was then part of France.”
“My family, originally from Tangier, settled in Tunisia and then in Algeria in the 16th century after having fled Spain during the Inquisition,” he said.
“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.”
“My parents lived a modest life and their main concern was the education of their children,” he added.
Claude Cohen-Tannoudji arrives for a meeting with some 60 intellectuals and the French president as part of the "Great National Debate" on March 18, 2019, at the Elysee Palace in Paris. (Photo by LUDOVIC MARIN/AFP via Getty Images)AFP via Getty Images
“My father was a self-taught man but had a great intellectual curiosity, not only for biblical and Talmudic texts but also for philosophy, psychoanalysis and history.
"He passed on to me his taste for studies, for discussion, for debate, and he taught me what I regard as being the fundamental features of the Jewish tradition—studying, learning and sharing knowledge with others.”
Cohen-Tannoudji left Algiers for Paris in 1953, and in 1958 he married high school teacher Jacqueline Veyrat. They had three children.
In 1973 he was appointed professor at the Collège de France, where he taught for more than three decades.
The Nobel Prize organisation explained the reason that he and his co-laureates were awarded the honour in 1997.
“At room temperature, atoms and molecules in the air move about at breakneck speed. In order for them to be studied, they need to be slowed down or chilled,” it stated.
“During the 1980s, Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, Steven Chu and William Phillips developed different methods for this. When atoms come in contact with light particles with fixed energies, photons, their movement is affected as if they had been bumped. With the aid of laser light from different directions and adjustment of the photon’s energy for Doppler effects, the atoms can be cooled to extremely low temperatures and captured in a trap.”
Cohen-Tannoudjie had close connections to Israel.
He received a number of honorary doctorates including from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Bar-Ilan University. He was also honoured by the Weizmann Institute of Science.
