Carl Wieman
Interview
Interview, November 2020

Carl Wieman
Photo: Andrew Brodhead
Carl Wieman was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on super cooled atoms but over the last three decades he has also been applying a scientific approach to something different: improving education. In this interview he talks about better teaching methods, what COVID-19 has taught us and how we could all benefit from a scientific way of thinking.
Interview with the 2001 Nobel Laureate in Physics, Carl E. Wieman, 11 December 2007. The interviewer is Adam Smith, Editor-in-Chief of Nobelprize.org.
Following on from his interview with Nobelprize.org in 2001, Carl Wieman talks about his change in career since being awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics. Dr Wieman talks about how predicting the future success of students in his lab sparked a more general interest in people’s learning behaviour (7:39), why education practices are failing students (15:32), and the changes he believes should be made (20:16). This led him to turn his attention from physics research to science education, and he discusses the challenges of setting up Science Education Initiatives at the University of British Columbia and the University of Colorado (27:10), the achievements so far (45:55), and his future plans (59:47).
Interview with the 2001 Nobel Laureates in Physics, Eric A. Cornell, Carl E. Wieman and Wolfgang Ketterle, 12 December 2001. The interviewer is Joanna Rose, science writer.
The Laureates talk about their memories of the day of the discovery, the importance of competition (5:58), the significance of producing the condensate (11:51), big issues in physics (15:06), receiving the Nobel Prize at an early age (21:55), and their future work (25:41).
Coming up
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