Professor Cohen-Tannoudji is among 23 Nobel laureates that Honeywell has sponsored at universities worldwide since 2006. The event marks the eleventh time Honeywell Hometown Solutions, Honeywell’s corporate social responsibility organization, has delivered HISE to a university in India, and the first time the program is taking place at VIT University. HISE has benefitted thousands of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) students and teachers across the country.
Cohen-Tannoudji was awarded the 1997 Nobel Prize in physics for the development of methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light to near Absolute Zero. This discovery has given rise to a number of recent developments in this field.
“One interesting development concerns ultra-precise atomic clocks using cold atoms, with errors less than one second in one billion years,” Professor Cohen-Tannoudji told the young audience of more than 1,500. “These atomic clocks allow one to perform more refined tests to improve international time distribution services, to control the wave frequency of television broadcasts, and to be more precise in global navigation satellite systems such as GPS.”
Afterwards, students engaged in a lively discussion with the laureate, asking many questions and interacting directly with him throughout his visit. “Always consider yourself a student of life, and never let go of your curiosity,” he advised them.
“We are delighted to host HISE and Professor Cohen-Tannoudji for this two-day event,” said Dr. G. Viswanathan, Founder and Chancellor, VIT University. “Honeywell and VIT University share common goals that help us inspire our students to pursue fields in science and engineering. With this visit by the Nobel laureate and the exchange program we’ve established with Honeywell, we hope to energize today’s students to become tomorrow’s great leaders.”
“As a world leader in innovating cutting-edge technologies, Honeywell's Technologists, Research / Engineering centers across the globe continue to innovate to address world's toughest challenges like Energy efficiency, clean energy generation, urbanization / HGR development, safety & security and customer productivity," said Suresh Venkatarayalu, President, HTS – Global. "It is important for us to inspire future budding engineers to demonstrate uncompromised empathy to understand the environment we live in, accompanied by a relentless focus and drive to innovate to make positive impact on the lives of consumers across the globe."
Honeywell sponsors scholarships, R&D projects, and intern opportunities for students in partnership with universities in India and around the world.
Through HISE, Honeywell partners with top universities in China, Czech Republic, India, Mexico and other high growth regions to inspire students to pursue careers in science and engineering. The initiative includes a series of lectures by laureates, career discussions with Honeywell’s top engineers in the region, and informal and interactive exchanges between the laureates and students.
VIT University is one of several Indian universities selected to take part in the HISE program. To date, Honeywell has brought the program to India 11 times, the most of any country since Honeywell began a laureate program in 2006.