Lene Hau

Lene Vestergaard Hau ( born November 13, 1959 in Vejle, Denmark) is a Danish physicist.

Hau studied mathematics and physics at the University of Aarhus ( baccalaureate degree in mathematics in 1984, MS in Physics, 1986). She was a few months at CERN in 1988 as Carlsberg Fellow at the Rowland Institute for Science, Harvard University. There she turned to theoretical physics from the experimental work in the field of Bose -Einstein condensates. With the work carried out there, she received her PhD in 1991 in Aarhus ( Bound states of guided matter waves: An atom and a charged wire ). Since 1999 she has been there, Gordon McKay Professor of Applied Physics.

In 1999, she led a team at Harvard University, who managed to slow light to about 17 meters per second. In 2001, the group managed to completely hold the light for a moment.

2001 she was a MacArthur Fellow.