Departures of note

Claude Cohen-Tannoudji was a French physicist renowned for his work on laser cooling and trapping of neutral atoms, work that earned him the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics jointly with Steven Chu and William D. Phillips. His research enabled spectacular advances in the field of cold atoms, including improvements in the precision of atomic clocks. He worked for many years at the Kastler Brossel Laboratory, a joint research unit of the École normale supérieure, Sorbonne Université, the Collège de France and the CNRS. He served as a professor at the Collège de France and was a member of the Académie des sciences. Born on 1 April 1933 in Constantine, Algeria, he also played an important role in the development of atomic physics and quantum optics, transmitting his knowledge to many young physicists, including fellow French Nobel laureates Serge Haroche and Alain Aspect. He died at the age of 93.