Theodor Hansch (born 1941), German physicist. Hansch is Director at the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics, Garching, Germany, and Professor of Physics at the Ludwig Maximilians University, Munich, Germany. In 2005 Hansch shared the Nobel Prize in Physics with John Hall and Roy Glauber for his contribution to laser spectroscopy, especially the frequency comb technique, which can measure the frequency of light waves. These methods make it possible to determine the quantum structure of matter with a high degree of accuracy and to test fundamental theories. They have also been used to produce extremely accurate clocks and to improve GPS technology. Photographed at CERN, the European particle physics laboratory, on 6 April 2006. |