In this image, University of Washington physics Professor Hans Georg Dehmelt (1922-2017) sits in a classroom on the Seattle campus after learning that he had been awarded a share of the 1989 Nobel Prize in Physics for co-developing (with Wolfgang Paul) an elegant, precise technique to trap charged atomic particles so they could be studied and measured in near isolation.

In a 1989 Seattle Times interview, Dr. Dehmelt told the newspaper that his interest in atomic particles dated back to when he was a 10-year-old amateur radio operator. It became Dr. Dehmelt’s life’s work to isolate an individual atomic particle at rest, “so you can study it to your heart’s content,” he said. Dr. Dehmelt taught and conducted research at the UW from 1955 until his retirement in 2002.

Caption information source: The Seattle Times, March 24, 2017, p. B1
Caption information also derived from captions written by Post-Intelligencer staff and attached to the back of the photograph.