The strength and growing prestige of the sciences at the University of Colorado were on full display Tuesday with the announcement that a physics lecturer at the school had won a Nobel Prize.
David J. Wineland's cutting-edge work in quantum physics marks the fifth time a researcher associated with CU has won a Nobel in the sciences.
We join the rest of Colorado in offering our congratulations to Wineland, a physicist at the federal National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder.
Wineland has conducted mind-boggling research in quantum physics that has resulted in the creation of a clock 100 times more precise than atomic clocks.
His work, and that of French physicist Serge Haroche, who shares the award with Wineland, could lay the groundwork for the next generation of super-fast computers.
Wineland has been a physics lecturer at CU since 2000, and supervises students who work in his lab at NIST, which is a research jewel in its own right. The federal laboratory, which is intended to promote U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness, has seen four of its researchers win Nobels.
The synergy between federal research laboratories and Colorado's universities is something to be appreciated, encouraged and protected.
Their work may not be grabbing Nobel headlines every day, but collaboration between the state's universities and the federally funded and managed research labs located in this state is important for both entities.
The association surely helps CU in recruiting high-caliber science students, attracted by opportunities to learn from Nobel laureates.
Paul Beale, chair of the CU physics department, said Wineland is an important member of the graduate faculty and a key student adviser.
"His laboratory at NIST has allowed our graduate students to engage in world-class research, and it's an honor for our department to be associated with him," Beale said in a prepared statement.
The 2012 Nobel earned by Wineland is a testament to his years of world-leading research, and it is an honor that all of Colorado and the U.S. scientific community can celeberate.