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16 Mar 2026
16:15University of Basel, Department of Physics, Hörsaal 1, EG Foyer, Klingelbergstrasse 82, 4056 Basel
Nature & Technology
A new measure: the revolutionary quantum reform of the modern metric systemPublic lecture by Prof. Dr. William D. Phillips, American physicist and Nobel Prize laureate
Nobel Prize winner William D. Phillips in conversation with young scientists during the 69th Lindau Meeting. (Photo: Vincenzo108/Wikimedia Commons | CC BY-SA 4.0) How do we actually measure the world we live in, and why have scientists decided that it is time to redefine the fundamentals of measurement itself? This is the topic of a lecture by American physicist and Nobel Prize laureate Prof. Dr. William D. Phillips.
In this lecture, Nobel Prize winner Prof. Dr. William D. Phillips explores the most radical transformation of the International System of Units (SI) since its origins in the French Revolution. Instead of relying on physical artefacts, all base units are now defined by fixed values of natural constants. The talk explains why this reform was necessary and how it works.
Prof. Dr. William D. Phillips is an American physicist best known for his pioneering work on laser cooling and trapping of atoms. He was awarded the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics, shared with Steven Chu and Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, for developing techniques that use laser light to slow atoms to extremely low temperatures, enabling breakthroughs in precision measurement and atomic physics.
Phillips spent much of his career at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and has also served as a professor at the University of Maryland, where he is widely respected for both his research and his dedication to science education.
Organizer:
Departement Physik
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