PrincetonUniversityOffice of Communications, Stanhope Hall
Princeton, NJ 08544 | Tel 609/258-3601, Fax 609/258-1301
Princeton in the News
October 13 to 14, 1998 | Feedback
Overnight news clips on Daniel C. Tsui, Winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Physics
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH
Copyright 1998 Telegraph Group Limited (London)
October 14, 1998, WednesdayHEADLINE: Briton wins the Nobel prize for chemistry
BYLINE: By Roger Highfield Science Editor
BODY: A BRITON was awarded a Nobel prize yesterday for his pioneering efforts to conduct chemistry in a computer. ...
Two Americans, Profs Robert Laughlin and Daniel Tsui, and Prof Horst Stormer of Germany, won the Nobel prize for physics yesterday for quantum physics research that could aid the development of the next generation of microelectronics.
The Christian Science Monitor
Copyright 1998 The Christian Science Publishing Society
October 14, 1998, WednesdayHEADLINE: The News In Brief
Three US-based scientists won the Nobel Prize in physics for discovering how electrons acting together in strong magnetic fields and extremely low temperatures can exhibit fractions of the supposedly indivisible unit electrical charge. This is like finding half a baseball. Robert Laughlin of the US, Horst Stoermer of Germany, and Daniel Tsui of China, who is now a US citizen, will share the $978,000 prize.
Communications Daily
Copyright 1998 Warren Publishing, Inc.
October 14, 1998, WednesdaySECTION: COMM DAILY NOTEBOOK
Major awards have been announced for several in telecom industry: (1) Nobel for physics went to Horst Stormer of Lucent Technologies and former Bell Labs scientists Robert Laughlin and Daniel Tsui for their work in quantum physics. (2) Matsushita/Panasonic received 2 Emmys for technical work on DVCPro program acquisition system, with other shared with NHK for work on D-5 HDTV videotape recorders. (3) Dolby Labs received technical Emmy for development of AC-3 sound system for HDTV.
Financial Times
Copyright 1998 The Financial Times Limited (London)
October 14, 1998, WednesdayHEADLINE: Five win awards for making quantum science discoveries
NOBEL PRIZES STUDIES OF MATTER HELP IN DEVELOPMENT OF DRUGS:BYLINE: By Clive Cookson, Science Editor, in London
DATELINE: LondonFive researchers working in the US shared the two Nobel science prizes awarded yesterday. Both the physics and chemistry prize went to discoveries in quantum science - studies of energy and matter on an extremely small scale. ...
The physics prize went to Robert Laughlin of Stanford University, Horst Stoermer of Columbia University and Daniel Tsui of Princeton University for a discovery that does not have an immediate application but has fascinating implications for physical theory.
They discovered that, in an extremely strong magnetic field at very low temperatures, electrons can behave as a "quantum fluid". It means essentially that large numbers of electrons (the particles that carry electric current) act together as if they were a new type of sub-atomic particle.
"What makes these fluids particularly important for researchers is that events in a drop of quantum fluid can afford more profound insights into the general inner structure and dynamics of matter," the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said. ...
Professor Tsui is originally from China. Professor Kohn was born in Austria. Professor Stoermer is German. And Professor Pople is British - a celebrated example of the 1960s "brain drain", he worked at Cambridge University and then at the National Physical Laboratory before moving to Carnegie-Mellon University in the US.
Los Angeles Times
Copyright 1998 Times Mirror Company
October 14, 1998, Wednesday, Home EditionHEADLINE: 2 CALIFORNIA SCIENTISTS SHARE NOBEL PRIZES;
DISCOVERIES: AWARDS IN PHYSICS AND CHEMISTRY GO TO RESEARCHERS WHO SHED LIGHT ON INNER WORLD OF ATOMS.
BYLINE: K.C. COLE, TIMES SCIENCE WRITER
Consolidating a remarkable winning streak for California, Nobel Prizes in physics and chemistry were awarded Tuesday to Stanford and UC Santa Barbara scientists. ...
The physics prize, to be shared by Robert Laughlin of Stanford, Horst Stormer of Columbia and Daniel Tsui of Princeton, recognized the discovery of a completely unexpected behavior of common electrons. Under high magnetic fields and low temperatures, electrons can collapse into a quantum mechanical "fluid" that spontaneously produces strange "quasi-particles" out of empty space.
"The ordinary laws of physics do the strangest things you could not predict in your wildest imagination," said Laughlin. In an interview, he added that he was pretty calm about the prize. "My wife screamed. I didn't." Still, he allowed that "Nobel prizes are neat, because they draw attention to science." ...
Essentially, an atom is a nucleus of heavy particles surrounded by clouds of infinitely elusive electrons. The precise behavior of the electrons is the key to all chemical reactions. Yet keeping track of their behavior, said Richmond, is rather like trying to write equations for the behavior of every child in a crowded classroom. ...
Stanford physicist Laughlin also emphasized the importance of basic research in claiming his prize. "I've determined that there is a fundamentally incorrect idea pervading Washington, that the purpose of expenditure on science is to create technology." He said he is determined to "fight this fight seriously," promoting the value of basic science.
Laughlin said he was relieved to get the prize. After all, three of his Stanford colleagues already had a Nobel, leaving him feeling like "the only kid on the block not to have one."
The physics prize, like the chemistry prize, was awarded for work rooted in quantum physics but applicable to everyday objects and events. This, in itself, is surprising. The strange subatomic goings-on of atoms are not visible to the eye, or even the microscope. ...
Electron Mystery Is Explained
The astonishing discovery that led to this year's physics prize hinged on a similar phenomenon, known to physicists as the "fractionalized quantum Hall effect." The Hall effect, discovered in 1879 by Edwin Hall, is a peculiar "sideways" force exerted on an electric current when placed in a strong magnetic field.
In the 1980s, physicists discovered that this "sideways current" increased in discrete steps, like steps on a staircase, rather than continuously. Then, in 1982, Tsui and Stormer discovered that the electrons in these currents can create new particles with unheard of fractional electric charges. Within a year of their discovery, Laughlin--in his prize-winning work--explained how this could happen.
In effect, he postulated that the electrons in the Hall current condense into a kind of super-calm fluid. The fluid is trapped inside very high magnetic fields, at very low temperatures, and squeezed into two-dimensional space, creating a new kind of vacuum. ...
And although the fractionalized quantum Hall effect will no doubt lead to important applications in electronics and other fields, that's not why physicists are so excited. "It's of interest for fundamental physics, not cell phones," he said. "It's interesting for the same reason that discovering a black hole in the center of the galaxy is interesting. It's telling us something deep and fundamental about the nature of the world we live in." ...
The New York Times
Copyright 1998 The New York Times Company
October 14, 1998, WednesdayNAME: Robert B. Laughlin; Horst L. Stormer; Daniel C. Tsui; Walter Kohn; John A. Pople
HEADLINE: 5 Quantum Theorists Share 2 Nobel Prizes in Sciences
BYLINE: By MALCOLM W. BROWNE
Quantum theory, in its most arcane and practical guises, was the focus of the Nobel Prizes in Physics and Chemistry announced yesterday by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. The three winners of the physics prize and the two winners of the chemistry award are all university professors in the United States.
Quantum theory, which has been evolving since the beginning of the century, is a mathematical framework describing the behavior of ultra-small objects, including atoms. ...
The physics prize, also $978,000, will be shared by Dr. Robert B. Laughlin, 48, of Stanford University, Dr. Horst L. Stormer, 49, who works at Columbia University and at Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill, N.J., and Dr. Daniel C. Tsui, 59, of Princeton University. In 1982, when they did the research for which they were honored yesterday, all three physicists were working for Bell Laboratories, which is now a part of the Lucent Technologies Corporation.
The Nobel committee honored the physicists for their discovery of a phenomenon called the fractional quantum Hall effect.
Dr. Stormer, who was born in Germany, and Dr. Tsui, born in China, took this a step further in 1982 using an ultra-powerful magnet at the Francis Bitter National Magnet Laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. Preparing their experiment at Bell Laboratories, they pioneered a technique for making a transistor sandwich from layers of gallium and arsenic. The layers in this sandwich were so thin that electron movement between them was restricted to two dimensions instead of the usual three.
Installed in the big M.I.T. magnet and chilled to near the absolute zero, their device exhibited the well-known quantum Hall effect, but with a twist: the response of the electric potential to changes in the magnetic field was not only stepwise; it occurred in thirds of a step. It was as if normal electrons, which are indivisible, had been split into thirds. ...
South China Morning Post
Copyright 1998 South China Morning Post Ltd.
October 14, 1998Professor Tsui could not be found anywhere last night - even by his colleagues.
"We've looked for him in his house and at his office, and we haven't located him," said a Princeton University spokesman. "He could be anywhere - he's very shy." It was unclear whether the new Nobel laureate had gone underground to avoid publicity, or whether he simply had not been told he had won. His disappearance made things difficult for Princeton, which was trying to arrange a press conference for him.
HEADLINE: Ex-HK student wins Nobel
A former Hong Kong student who needed help with his school fees has won the Nobel Prize for physics.
Professor Daniel Tsui Chye, 59, shared the US$978,000 (HK$7.5 million) prize with Professor Robert Laughlin, of Stanford University, California, and Professor Horst Stoermer, of Columbia University, New York. Professor Tsui attended Pui Ching Middle School and is now at Princeton University, New Jersey.
Teacher Poon Ka-hang said last night Mr Tsui came from a poor family and had had to apply for tuition fee remission to finish his education.
Professor Tsui, who then spelt his name Tsuie, had joined the Ho Man Tin school in Form One. "He graduated in 1957 after completing his senior education in our school," said Mr Poon.
"He was outstanding throughout his six years' education. Our academic reports show he achieved very high scores in almost all subjects.
"His teachers wrote in his reports that he was hardworking, polite and excellent in conduct and academic performances. His good academic results won him prizes too."
In his final examination at the school, he scored 90 in physics, 92 in history, 91 in mathematics, and between 80 and 90 in geography, Chinese and English. Pui Ching Middle School was then a private school. It was founded in 1889 in Guangzhou and has produced several renowned scholars, including Professor Yau Shing-tung, an expert in mathematics, and Professor Woo Chia -wei, who heads Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
Principal Cheng Sing-yip said he would announce the news in this morning's assembly.
"It not only brings honour to Pui Ching, but also to the Chinese people. It also proved the success of mother-tongue teaching," he said.
Professor Tsui went to the United States in 1958 and earned a doctorate from the University of Chicago.
He and his colleagues won the prize for their discoveries of how subatomic particles could behave like a fluid, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said. The men discovered a new form of "quantum fluid".
The Toronto Star
Copyright 1998 Toronto Star Newspapers, Ltd.
October 14, 1998, WednesdayHEADLINE: 5 QUANTUM SCIENTISTS SHARE NOBEL PRIZES
Research fields for physics, chemistry awards linked
STOCKHOLM (Reuters-AP) - Three quantum physicists and two quantum chemists won Nobel prizes yesterday for their discoveries about the building blocks of matter. The research has far-reaching implications, from a new generation of microelectronics to understanding the destruction of Earth's ozone layer. U.S. physicists Robert Laughlin and Daniel Tsui and German scientist Horst Stormer shared the 1998 Nobel prize in physics. ...
Laughlin, Tsui and Stormer won the prize for their work on how electrons behave in magnetic fields, a branch of particle physics which has yielded a rich crop of Nobel prizes. Their discoveries in quantum mechanics - the rules by which very small particles like electrons move - are significant for the miniaturization of electronic products. ''This discovery could be a breakthrough in the barrier that limits the smallness of computers, televisions and mobilephones,'' said Anders Barany, a Stockholm University associate professor of theoretical atomic physics. ''This could be the micro-electronics of the next century.''
Tsui was born in 1939 in Henan, China, and is now a U.S. citizen and professor at Princeton University. ...
The Washington Post
Copyright 1998 The Washington Post
October 14, 1998, WednesdayHEADLINE: Studies of Matter at Smallest Scale Yield Biggest Prizes in Science
BYLINE: Curt Suplee, Washington Post Staff Writer
Researchers at five American universities won the Nobel Prizes in Physics and Chemistry yesterday for their investigations of the behavior of matter at the smallest scale.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the physics prize to Robert B. Laughlin of Stanford University, Horst L. Stormer of Columbia University and Daniel C. Tsui of Princeton University for their discovery that, under certain circumstances, electrons act like weird "quasiparticles" with only a fraction of the electrical charge that an electron is supposed to have.
That work, the Nobel organization said, constitutes "a breakthrough in our understanding of quantum physics," the set of principles that describes how the fundamental units of matter and energy interact. In practical terms, it may improve understanding of microelectronic and optical devices. ...
On its face, the physics research seems to contradict one of the bedrock axioms of modern science -- namely, that the electron is a truly elementary particle, with no apparent structure, no subcomponents and an unvarying electrical charge. Yet what Stormer and Tsui observed in the lab, and what Laughlin later explained in theory, were unexpected entities that were comporting themselves as if they were one-third or two-fifths or some other peculiar fraction of an electron. This made no sense, especially since the experimenters were examining the seemingly well-studied Hall effect, a phenomenon with a century-old pedigree.
In 1879, U.S. physicist Edwin Hall found that when a conductor carrying a current was placed in a magnetic field perpendicular to the current, many of the moving charged particles got shoved to one side or the other of the conductor, depending on their charge. (A similar effect is used to bend a stream of electrons to scan the screen in a TV set.) As a result, positive charges piled up on one edge of the conductor and negative charges on the other, creating an internal voltage at right angles to the main current.
For decades, it was assumed that this "Hall voltage" varied continuously with magnetic field strength. But then in 1980, German physicist Klaus von Klitzing explored the phenomenon in a conducting layer so thin that, in effect, it allowed electrons to move in only two dimensions. Working at low temperatures and with much higher magnetic fields than Hall had used, von Klitzing observed that the voltage did not vary smoothly as the field was increased, but changed in incremental steps -- like moving up a staircase instead of sliding up a ramp.
That accorded nicely with one of the essential dogmas of modern physics: At its most basic level, energy is quantized; that is, it does not come in an infinitude of values, but only in discrete units called "quanta." In von Klitzing's experiments, the Hall voltage was quantized into whole-number multiples of a constant based on the size of the individual electron charge. The discovery of the "integer quantum Hall effect" garnered von Klitzing the 1985 Nobel Prize in Physics.
In 1982, Stormer and Tsui were at AT&T Bell Laboratories in New Jersey, looking at the same phenomenon, but at temperatures near absolute zero, with magnetic fields four times stronger and in high-purity materials developed by Arthur C. Gossard, now at UCSB.
To their astonishment, they found a very large number of steps, most of which were not whole-number multiples, but strange fractions such as four-sevenths or five-ninths. Soon thereafter, Laughlin offered a controversial explanation: The electrons were combining with bits of the magnetic field energy to condense into fluid-like conglomerates, or quasiparticles, with many different fractional charges. ...
ABC NEWS
SHOW: GOOD MORNING AMERICA (7:00 am ET)
OCTOBER 13, 1998HIGHLIGHT: NEWS ITEMS FROM AROUND THE NATION
And finally, the Noble Prize in physics was announced this morning. It is being shared by three scientists working at U.S. universities, Robert Laughlin of Stanford, Daniel Tsui of Princeton and Horst Stoermer of Columbia. They're being honored for research on subatomic particles, including the discovery that some particles behave like fluid.
Agence France Presse
Copyright 1998 Agence France Presse
October 13, 1998HEADLINE: Nobel winner for physics says prize shows much still to be done
DATELINE: PALO ALTO, California, Oct 13
With his ear to a Mickey Mouse telephone and his eyes heavy with sleep, Robert Laughlin got word Tuesday that he won a Nobel Prize for helping people understand the world they live in.
Laughlins 13-year-old son, Todd, walked into his fathers room early Tuesday morning and announced, "Hey dad, some guy from Sweden wants to talk to you," and handed his father his Mickey Mouse telephone.
Laughlin and two fellow scientists, Daniel Tsui and Horst Stoermer, won physics prizes for their roles in figuring out that electrons in a strong magnetic field and at low temperatures can form a type of quantum liquid.
"The effect is so delicate, and real-life electronics require robust things that can live and be banged at room temperature without being hurt," he said of their work.
The discovery will help people understand the laws of physics that govern the planet they live on, Laughlin said.
"All of us want to understand the universe we live in and why it does what it does. That is why the Nobel Prize was given for this particular work," he said. ...
Agence France Presse
Copyright 1998 Agence France Presse
October 13, 1998HEADLINE: Nobel Physics Prize goes to two Americans and a German
DATELINE: STOCKHOLM, Oct 13
The Nobel Prize in Physics went Tuesday to two Americans, Robert Laughlin and Daniel Tsui, and Horst Stoermer of Germany for making a major breakthrough in the understanding of quantum physics.
Laughlin is a professor at Stanford University, California. Tsui, a naturalised American born in Henan, China, is a professor at Princeton University, New Jersey, while Horst Stoermer, born in Frankfurt, is a professor at Columbia University, New York.
The three were honoured for discovering that electrons acting together in strong magnetic fields can form new types of particles with charges that are fractions of electron charges.
In 1982, Stoermer and Tsui, the 66th and 67th Americans to win the Nobel prize for physics, discovered "a new form of quantum fluid with fractionally charged excitations" in an experiment using extremely powerful magnetic fields and low temperatures.
Within a year of this discovery, Laughlin had succeeded in explaining their result. ...
Tsui received his PhD in physics in 1967 at the University of Chicago, and has been a professor at Princeton Univeristy since 1982.
He also received the Oliver E. Buckley Prize from the American Physical Society in 1984, an award he shared with Horst Stoermer.
AP Online
Copyright 1998 Associated Press
October 13, 1998; TuesdayHEADLINE: 5 Scientists in U.S. Get Nobels
BYLINE: JOSEPH B. VERRENGIA
Five scientists in the United States won Nobel Prizes in physics and chemistry Tuesday for unlocking the strange behavior of subatomic particles in ways that might someday be harnessed to make faster electronics and design new drugs via computer.
Both prizes, awarded in Stockholm by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, reward the scientists for research done as much as three decades ago.
Robert B. Laughlin of Stanford University, Horst L. Stormer of Columbia University and Daniel C. Tsui of Princeton University won the physics prize for discovering how electrons can change behavior and act more like fluid than particles.
''The first time I saw it was just mind blowing,'' Stormer said. But he added, ''Had someone stood behind me and said, 'This is a Nobel Prize,' I would have laughed in his face.'' ...
The Nobel winners in physics discovered that ordinary electrons, when exposed to strong magnetic fields and ultra-low temperatures, can condense into a new form of matter that behaves like a fluid.
Whether this ''quantum fluid'' of subatomic particles has practical potential is a matter of debate. But Mats Jonson, a physics professor at Sweden's Chalmers Institute of Technology, said the research work could boost the development of smaller, faster electronics.
Electrons moving in waves could change the flow of data through chips and transistors for computers and cellular phones of the future.
Tsui, a 59-year-old Chinese-born American, and Stormer, a 49-year-old German, did the ''quantum fluid'' work together in 1982. Laughlin, a 47-year-old American, described the underpinning theory the next year. ...
The Associated Press
October 13, 1998, TuesdayHEADLINE: Two physicists from NJ among Nobel Prize winners
BYLINE: DONNA MURPHY WESTON, Associated Press Writer
DATELINE: PRINCETON, N.J.
Physicist Horst L. Stormer said he knew he and his colleagues had discovered something special in their research at Bell Labs in the early 1980s, but never thought it would earn them science's top honor.
"The first time I saw it was just mindblowing," said Stormer, 49, recalling their study of electron behavior. "There were certain wiggles you would expect and then suddenly there was a wiggle you would not expect."
But he said the thought of winning a Nobel was the farthest thing from his mind at the time.
"Had someone stood behind me and said, 'This is a Nobel Prize,' I would have laughed in his face," said Stormer, a professor at Columbia University who still works at Bell Labs in Murray Hill.
On Tuesday, Stormer was one of three scientists who were awarded the Nobel Prize in physics for their work, which could be the basis for advances in microelectronics, such as development of smaller computer chips or better refrigerants.
Stormer will share the $978,000 prize with Daniel C. Tsui, a professor at Princeton University since 1982, and Robert B. Laughlin, who works at Stanford University in Stanford, Calif.
The award recognizes work that Tsui and Stormer did together in 1982. Laughlin elaborated on the work the next year.
They discovered that ordinary electrons acting together in strong magnetic fields and very low temperatures can condense into new types of composite subatomic particles that function as a fluid, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said. Subsequently, other researchers confirmed their experiments and directly observed these new composites, known as quasiparticles.
Princeton engineering Dean Jim Wei said, "We don't know what door this opens, but one day this will lead to wonderful technologies."Tsui, 59, a native of China who came to the United States in 1958 and is now an American citizen, said he was grateful to Princeton University and Bell Labs for the opportunity to do his research. He joked that the word research can be literally translated as "to do something fun, interesting and challenging and still get paid."
"I especially want to thank my colleagues here on this campus and at Bell Labs. Your friendship has broadened my views and enriched my life enormously," said Tsui, a tall, slender man dressed in navy slacks, a navy V-neck sweater and white button-down oxford.
Tsui, described by colleagues as extremely shy, fidgeted when asked about his reaction to winning the prestigious award.
He said only that he learned the news on the radio and afterward went about his usual morning routine, then headed to work at the lab, where his office door was adorned with a spray of balloons and notes of congratulations.
Pressed for more details on his emotional reaction, Tsui told about 150 reporters, photographers, faculty and students, "Basically, you cannot take it so seriously."
The Atlanta Journal and Constitution
Copyright 1998 The Atlanta Constitution
October 13, 1998, TuesdayHEADLINE: LATE NEWS; Nobel physics prize awarded to 3 in U.S.
DATELINE: Stockholm, Sweden
Three scientists working in the United States won the Nobel Prize in physics today for their discoveries of how sub-atomic particles can behave like a fluid. Robert Laughlin of the United States, Horst Stoermer of Germany and Daniel C. Tsui, a native of China who is now an American citizen, will share the $978,000 prize.
They discovered that electrons acting together in strong magnetic fields can form new types of particles, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said. Laughlin works at Stanford University, Stoermer is at Columbia University in New York City and Tsui teaches at Princeton University. The award recognizes work that Tsui and Stoermer did together in the 1980s, which was elaborated on by Laughlin. According to the citation, the three discovered a new form of ''quantum fluid,'' which are fluids such as liquid helium that have certain properties in common such as superfluidity.
Business Wire
Copyright 1998 Business Wire, Inc.October 13, 1998, Tuesday
HEADLINE: Lucent Technologies' Bell Labs Scientist Horst Stormer and Two Former Bell Labs Scientists, Win Nobel Prize in Physics
DATELINE: MURRAY HILL, N.J.
Oct. 13, 1998--The Nobel Prize in physics was awarded today to Horst Stormer, Adjunct Physics Director at Bell Labs, the research and development arm of Lucent Technologies, and two former Bell Labs scientists Robert C. Laughlin and Daniel C. Tsui for their work in quantum physics.
They were cited for their discovery of the fractional quantum-hall effect, a new state of matter created when electrons come together to form quasi-particles with exact fractions of electrical charges. The experimental work was done at Bell Labs in the early 1980s; the theory was explained later by Laughlin, after he became a professor at Stanford University, Palo Alto, Calif. Stormer, 49, is also a professor at Columbia University, in New York City, and Tsui is now a professor at Princeton University, N.J. ...
CBS News Transcripts
SHOW: CBS EVENING NEWS (6:30 PM ET)
Copyright 1998 Burrelle's Information Services
October 13, 1998, TuesdayHEADLINE: NOBEL PRIZES AWARDED IN PHYSICS AND CHEMISTRY
ANCHORS: DAN RATHER
Cosmic news tonight from the infinite universe and the realm of the ultrasmall. The Nobel Prizes in physics and chemistry were awarded today to five people who delve into the inner workings of subatomic particles and the secrets of molecules.
Nobel Prize
Physics Horst Stormer Robert Laughlin Daniel Tsui
Chemistry Walter Kohn John Pople
Central News Agency
Copyright 1998 Central News Agency
October 13, 1998, TuesdayHEADLINE: ACADEMIA SINICA MEMBER WINS NOBEL PRIZE FOR PHYSICS
BYLINE: By Victor Lai
DATELINE: Taipei, Oct. 13
A former president of Taiwan's highest-level academic institute, the Academia Sinica, on Tuesday lauded fellow member Daniel Tsui's winning of the 1998 Nobel prize for physics.
Tsui, a 59-year-old Chinese-American, is a professor at Princeton University, New Jersey.
He won the Nobel Prize in conjunction with two other physicists -- Prof. Robert Laughlin of Stanford University, and Prof. Horst Stoermer of Columbia University.
They were awarded the prize for "discovering that electrons acting together in strong magnetic fields can form new types of particles, with charges that are fractions of electron charges."
Upon learning of Tsui's achievement, former Academia Sinica President Dr. Wu Ta-you said it was "very encouraging news," and added that improvement of the environment through scientific research is an endless task in which Taiwan should continue its efforts. ...
Prof. Tsui is the sixth Chinese-American to have won the Nobel Prize. The previous winners are Yang Chen-ning, Lee Tsung-dao, Samuel Chao-chung Ting, Lee Yuan-tseh and Steven Chu.
CNNfn
SHOW: BEFORE HOURS 08:00:00 am ET
October 13, 1998; TuesdayHEADLINE: World & National News, CNNfn
BYLINE: Deborah Marchini
Three researchers working in the U.S. have won the Nobel Prize for physics. Robert Laughlin (ph) and Daniel TsuI (ph) and Horst Stoermer (ph) were honored for work that led to a breakthrough in the understanding of quantum physics.
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Copyright 1998 Deutsche Presse-Agentur
October 13, 1998, TuesdayHEADLINE: Nobel Prize for Physics awarded to Americans and German
DATELINE: Stockholm
The 1998 Nobel Prize for Physics was awarded Tuesday to Robert B. Laughlin and Daniel C. Tsui of the United States and Horst L. Stoermer of Germany, the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences announced.
The three were recognized for their discovery of a new form of quantum liquidity, contributing to a breakthrough in the understanding of quantum physics, a statement said.
The scientists will share equally in the 7.6-million kronar (978,000-dollar) award which will be presented formally in Stockholm on December 10, the anniversary of the death of Alfred Nobel, the industrialist and inventor of dynamite whose will established the prizes.
The Evening Standard
Copyright 1998 Associated Newspapers Ltd. (London)
October 13, 1998HEADLINE: Three win Nobel physics prize
THREE scientists today won the Nobel Physics Prize for discovering that electrons under certain circumstances can form new kinds of particles.
American Robert Laughlin, Chinese-born Daniel Tsui and German Horst Stoermer all work at US universities.
The citation said the three discovered a new form of quantum fluid.
"Events in a drop of quantum fluid can afford profound insights into the general inner structure and dynamics of matter," the Swedish Academy said.
NBC News Transcripts
Copyright 1998 National Broadcasting Co. Inc.
SHOW: TODAY October 13, 1998HEADLINE: AMERICAN SCIENTISTS WIN NOBEL PRIZE FOR PHYSICS
ANCHORS: SARA JAMES
SARA JAMES, anchor:
Three scientists working in the United States have won the Nobel Prize in physics. Robert Laughlin, Horst Stoermer and Daniel Tsui are being honored for their discovery of how new types of particles are formed. Laughlin works at Stanford University, Stoermer at Columbia, and Tsui at Princeton.
National Public Radio
SHOW: NPR ALL THINGS CONSIDERED
OCTOBER 13, 1998, TUESDAYHEADLINE: Nobels: Chemistry & Physics
BYLINE: Richard Harris, Washington; Noah Adams, Washington DC
HIGHLIGHT: NPR's Richard Harris reports on today's Nobel Prizes in Physic and Chemistry. Five scientists working at American universities won the two prizes. The physics award was given to three scientists for their discoveries that ordinary electrons that appear to have only partial electrical charges. The prize for chemistry went to two scientists who developed scientific methods uncovering the innermost structures of molecules. Their findings led to a new branch of science, quantum chemistry.
This year's Nobel prizes for both chemistry and physics honor research into how the electron behaves. The prize in chemistry will go to two scientist's who've figured out how to calculate the movement of electrons in atoms, so computers can predict chemical reactions.
And three physicists are being honored for discovering and then explaining extremely odd behavior by electrons in certain circumstances.
RICHARD HARRIS, NPR REPORTER: Electrons are at center stage in both chemistry and physics. In chemistry, it's the electrons that bind one atom to another to form molecules. And in physics, electrons are viewed as one of the few indivisible particles of nature.
In 1982, two physicists at Bell Labs did an experiment that seemingly raised questions about the fundamental nature of electrons. Daniel Tsui (ph) and Horst Sturmer (ph) were studying the behavior of electrons in an extremely high magnetic field.
At a news conference today, Sturmer says they were startled to see what appeared to be a particle carrying just a fraction of the electron's charge.
DR. HORST STURMER, WINNER OF THE 1998 NOBEL PRIZE FOR PHYSICS: If somebody would have stood behind me and sort of looked over and said "Nobel Prize," I would have just laughed in his face, or her face.
HARRIS: Sturmer says at first he assumed it was simply a mistake. After carefully ruling out that possibility, they published the result. But they didn't make any great claims about its significance.
STURMER: Of course, we had no idea that the implication would be that it really is something that is as fundamental as it has turned out to be.
HARRIS: The discovery immediately ignited much excitement among theorists, because if an electron is really an indivisible particle, its charge should be indivisible, too. Yet Tsui and Sturmer reported seeing something carrying one-third of an electron's charge.
One of the first to hear about this surprising result was Robert Laughlin (ph), who had recently been a post-doc at Bell Labs.
DR. ROBERT LAUGHLIN, STANFORD UNIVERSITY; FORMER POST-DOC, BELL LABS: It was my good fortune to know these guys and have inside information about what they had found. And I knew quite certainly that the experiment could mean only one thing.
HARRIS: Laughlin knew that they hadn't done anything quite as exotic as splitting up an electron, but it concluded that they had created a kind of a field, a new quantum state that could appear to carry a fraction of a charge by spreading the charge around.
Laughlin's now at Stanford University.
LAUGHLIN: Of course, when Dan found it, and I explained it -- which in physics means I wrote down an equation saying what it is.
HARRIS: The equation is simply enough to write on a T-shirt. In fact, Horst Sturner says he has one.
The discovery hasn't led to any new fabulous new communications project for Lucent Technologies, which now own Bell Labs. But the Nobel committee honored the work because it leads to a deeper understanding about a fundamental part of nature, the electron.
Xinhua News Agency
Copyright 1998 Xinhua News Agency
OCTOBER 13, 1998, TUESDAYHEADLINE: Three Scientists share 1998 Nobel Prize in Physics
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences decided Tuesday to award the 1998 Nobel Prize in Physics to three university professors for "their discovery of a new form of quantum fluid with fractionally charged excitations."
"The three researchers are being awarded the Nobel Prize for discovering that electrons acting together in strong magnetic fields can form new types of 'particles', with charges that are fractions of electron charges," said the academy.
The Nobel Prize winners are Professor Robert Laughlin from Stanford University, Professor Horst Stormer from Columbia University and Professor Daniel Tsui from Princeton University. ...