(aka Rudi)

Rudolf Grimm studied physics at the Univ. of Hannover (1980-1986), and did his PhD work at the ETH Zurich in Switzerland (1986-1989). As a post-doctoral researcher he then went eastwards to the Inst. of Spectroscopy in Troitsk near Moscow, where he spent a very exciting time (1989-1990), both scientifically and privately. His scientific interest in the manipulation of cold atoms with optical dipole forces goes back to this early time. After Russia he moved back to Germany to take a position as staff scientist at the Max-Planck-Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg, where he was hired to perform laser cooling experiments at an ion storage ring. In parallel he developed new activities on laser cooling of atomic beams and on atom trapping using novel concepts based on optical dipole forces. In 2000, he moved to Innsbruck to take the position of a full professor and founded the group “Ultracold atoms and quantum gases”. Major achievements include the wordwide first attainments of Bose-Einstein condensates of cesium (2002), strontium (2009), and erbium (2012), the worldwide first Bose-Einstein condensate of molecules (2003), and the first demonstration of Efimov three-body states (2006). In 2005, Rudi Grimm received the Wittgenstein Award, the highest scientific award in Austria. In the same year he was elected “Austrian of the Year (area of research)”, at that time not being an Austrian citizen. In 2010, he was elected “Scientist of the year” by Austrian journalists. To find out what he was doing 40 years ago watch this video.

Link to work group.