Nobel winner receives honorary degree in Scotland

Cornell (right)

Three winners of the Nobel Prize in Physics – including University of Colorado at Boulder Professor Eric Cornell – have received honorary Doctorate of Science degrees from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland.

Besides Cornell, who jointly won the Nobel Prize in 2001, Strathclyde honored Steven Chu, Ph.D., who was joint Nobel laureate in 1997 and who was appointed to President Obama's administration as U.S. Secretary of Energy in 2009, and Harvard University Professor Roy Glauber, who was joint Nobel Laureate in 2005.

During their visit to Glasgow, all three spoke at a national celebration of the 50th anniversary of the laser, an event held in the city and organized by Strathclyde to highlight Scotland's role in the expansion of the industry since the first laser demonstration in 1960.

Strathclyde Principal Professor Jim McDonald said: "It is an immense honor for us to be welcoming some of the world's most distinguished and eminent scientists to Strathclyde. Their discoveries have opened up many new possibilities in physics and in applications which can help tackle the major challenges of the 21st century."

Cornell was a joint winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize for his study of condensation and condensate materials. He studied at Stanford University in California and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before joining the University of Colorado in 1992. He also is a physicist at the U.S. Department of Commerce National Institute of Standards and Technology.