Yale University

In this interview, David Zierler, Oral Historian for AIP, interviews Thomas Appelquist, Eugene Higgins Professor of Physics at Yale University. Appelquist recounts his upbringing in rural Iowa and then Indiana, where he attended Catholic high school. He describes his undergraduate experience at Illinois Benedictine College and explains his attraction to attend a small school for college. Appelquist discusses his decision to attend Cornell for his PhD, and recalls that, relative to others in his cohort who went to larger schools, he had the most catching up to do in quantum mechanics. He explains the development of his thesis topic under the direction of Don Yennie, which focused on aspects of renormalization theory using the Feynman parametric approach. Appelquist contextualizes some of the broader questions in quantum field theory and quantum electrodynamics at this time, and he describes the opportunities that led him to SLAC for his postdoctoral research. He describes his interests there as focused on theories of the weak interactions, and he describes his initial faculty appointment at Harvard where he joined the particle theory group led by Shelly Glashow and Sidney Coleman. Appelquist discusses his close collaboration with Helen Quinn on how to renormalize Yang-Mills theories, and he explains his decision to take a tenured position at Yale in consideration of the culture at Harvard, where the prospects of tenure were minimal. He describes the revolutionary discoveries of asymptotic freedom, QCD, and the “November Revolution” at SLAC and Brookhaven at the time. Appelquist describes his research and administrative activities to advance the particle theory group at Yale, and his overall efforts to improve the department as chair and in particular building up the condensed matter theory group. He discusses his tenure as Dean of the Graduate School and his long-term involvement with the Aspen Center. At the end of the interview, Appelquist describes his current interests in lattice gauge theory and explains why he expects that physics will see double beta decay in the next generation of experiments.

Interview with Robert Schoelkopf, Sterling Professor of Applied Physics and Physics at Yale, and director of the Yale Quantum Institute. Schoelkopf describes the origins of the Quantum Institute and the longer history of quantum research at Yale, and he recounts his childhood in Manhattan and then in Chappaqua as the son of art dealers. He describes his early interests in science and tinkering, and his undergraduate education at Princeton where he worked with Steve Boughn and Jeff Kuhn in the gravity group. Schoelkopf discusses his job at the Goddard Space Flight Center before beginning graduate work at Caltech. He describes his research under the direction of Tom Phillips in detector development for astrophysical applications and Josephson junctions, and he explains his ambition to focus on developing devices. Schoelkopf discusses his postdoctoral research at Yale to work with Dan Prober on mesascopic physics, and he explains his involvement in microwave research for quantum information and his explorations into the limits of electrometry. He discusses the opportunities that led to his faculty appointment at Yale, his involvement in building qubits and what this would portend for the future of quantum information. Schoelkopf describes the formative influence of Michel Devoret and Steve Girvin and he explains how these collaborations contributed to upending some aspects of theoretical quantum information. He describes how qubit research has matured over the past twenty years and how this research has contributed to industry and commercial ventures, but why he remains focused on basic science within a university setting. At the end of the interview, Schoelkopf predicts some of the practical contributions that true quantum computing can offer society and why he is excited about the next generation of quantum information scientists.

Interview with Jay Gambetta, Vice President for Quantum Computing at IBM. Gambetta recalls his childhood in Queensland, Australia, and his early inclinations toward science and math. He discusses his doctoral work at Griffith University under Howard Wiseman, where his thesis dealt with the possibility of distinguishing different interpretations of quantum mechanics. Gambetta describes his introduction to quantum computing and his move to Yale. He reflects on his time at the Institute for Quantum Computing at the University of Waterloo in Canada, as well as the formation of the quantum team at IBM, which he joined in 2011. Gambetta provides an overview of the history of IBM’s interest in quantum computing, the continuing growth of their efforts, and the impact of the leadership of IBM Quantum under Dario Gil, Senior Vice President and Director of Research at IBM. Other topics include Gambetta and the IBM team's work to put a quantum computer on the cloud, the development of Qiskit, IBM’s quantum software platform, and his thoughts on benchmarking quantum computing capabilities. The interview concludes with Gambetta’s thoughts on the impact of the National Quantum Initiative and the changing needs of education in quantum computing.

Interview with Peter Donald MacDougall Parker, Professor Emeritus of Physics at Yale. Parker recounts his childhood growing up in New York City and Massachusetts, attending Amherst College, the excitement of being a graduate student at Caltech in the 1960s working on nuclear physics and nuclear astrophysics, his postgraduate position at Brookhaven National Laboratory, and his move to Wright Nuclear Structure Laboratory at Yale University in 1966. Parker recalls over five decades of research, teaching, and service work that includes: experimental nuclear physics and astrophysics work using tandem accelerators, solar neutrino flux, and dark matter search; teaching every single physics course offered at Yale and developing a new course; committee work; the gradual changes in gender demographics in the physics department at Yale. Also prominently mentioned are Willy Fowler, Richard Kavanaugh, Thomas Tombrello, John Bahcall, Ray Davis Jr., Allan Bromley, and his twin brother Robert Parker.

This wide-ranging interview explores the career of Jim Decker, most of which has been at the U.S. Department of Energy and its predecessor agencies. Decker first worked in the fusion energy program, and from 1985 to 2007 he was Principal Deputy Director of the DOE Office of Energy Research, which was renamed the Office of Science in 1998. The position was the highest-level career position within the office. The interview covers the evolving fortunes of fusion research in the U.S., including expanding support in the 1970s, U.S. participation in the international ITER project, and deep funding cuts in the 1990s. The leadership of Al Trivelpiece at the office, the development of DOE’s high-performance computing efforts, and the management of the Superconducting Super Collider project are discussed in some detail. Other subjects include the origins of DOE’s support for the Human Genome Project, the development of DOE’s procedures for oversight of major projects, recent trends toward funding “centers” and special initiatives, the evolving status of the Office of Science within DOE, and Decker’s experiences with Congress and successive presidential administrations.

Interview with Joel L. Lebowitz, the George William Hill professor of mathematics and physics at Rutgers University and Director of the Center for Mathematical Sciences Research at Rutgers. The interview begins with a brief discussion of how Lebowitz defines mathematical physics, his current interest in statistical mechanics, and his involvement in the Committee of Concerned Scientists. Lebowitz then looks back at his childhood in former Czechoslovakia, now Ukraine, where Yiddish was his first language. He recounts his memories of state-imposed anti-Semitism and his deportation to Auschwitz. Upon being liberated from the camp, Lebowitz describes his journey to the US where he studied math and theoretical physics at Brooklyn College. He talks about his graduate studies at Syracuse University with Peter Bergmann, as well as his post-doctoral position at Yale University with Lars Onsager. Lebowitz recalls his work on topics such as Coulomb forces, the thermodynamic limit, Ising spins, stochastic dynamics and more. He discusses his affiliation with the New York Academy of Sciences, of which he eventually became President, as well as his involvement in human rights issues related to the Refusenik scientists. The interview concludes with Lebowitz’s reflections on the connections between science and morality.

Interview with Berndt Müller, James B. Duke Professor of Physics at Duke University. The interview begins with Müller discussing his current work on quark-gluon plasma physics and the connections between nuclear physics and cosmology. Müller then recounts his family history in Germany during and after WWII, as well as his childhood in West Germany. He recalls his undergraduate studies at Goethe University Frankfurt, where it was the inspiring lectures that catalyzed his enthusiasm for physics. Müller explains the heavy ion research he was involved in at the time, as well as his master’s thesis on the Dirac equation. He recounts his first visit to Berkeley Lab in 1972 and his subsequent acceptance of a postdoc at University of Washington and a fellowship at Yale. Müller then returned to Frankfurt as an associate professor and explains how he got involved in quark-gluon plasma research. Müller talks about the creation of the RHIC and how that led him to pursue his next job in the US, landing at Duke. He discusses his involvement with the Institute of Nuclear Theory at the University of Washington, as well as his work at Brookhaven over the years. Müller recalls the pros and cons of the administrative side of academia, which he experienced as the Chair of the Faculty of Physics and then Dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences at Duke. The interview concludes with Müller’s reflections on winning the Feshbach Prize and his predictions for the future of theoretical nuclear physics.

The interviewee has not given permission for this interview to be shared at this time. Transcripts will be updated as they become available to the public. For any questions about this policy, please contact [email protected].

Interview with Marlan Scully, Distinguished University Professor and Burgess Chair at Texas A&M and Distinguished Research Academician at Baylor University. The interview begins with Scully recounting his early experience contracting COVID-19 and how that informed his research into the virus. Then he describes growing up in Wyoming and recalls not being very interested in school until he fell in love with calculus while attending community college. Scully talks about his studies in physics at the University of Wyoming before eventually transferring to Rensselaer Polytechnic. He then discusses his decision to move to Yale to work with Willis Lamb on laser physics. Scully recounts his assistant professorship at MIT and the opportunity at University of Arizona, where he was involved with starting their Optical Sciences Center. He talks about his subsequent joint position between University of New Mexico and Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics, as well as his work with Air Force weapons labs on laser applications. Scully details the events leading to his position at Texas A&M and the inception of the Institute for Quantum Studies, and his ongoing affiliations with Princeton. At the end of the interview, Scully reflects on the interplay between theory and experimentation throughout his career and in laser physics specifically, as well as the technological advances that have propelled laser research forward.

Interview with Michel Devoret, the Frederick W. Beinecke Professor of Applied Physics and Director of the Applied Physics Nanofabrication Lab at Yale University. Devoret recounts his childhood in France where his father was a physician and his mother was a teacher. He describes his parents’ experiences during World War II and his early interests in many areas of science such as computers, artificial intelligence, and biology. Devoret explains some nuances of the French schooling system and how he followed an engineering track in his undergraduate studies before focusing on physics. He recalls pursuing his Master’s degree at Orsay University where he worked in a molecular physics lab, as well as the opportunity that led him to pursue a PhD while working in Anatole Abragam’s lab at the Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) in Saclay. Devoret talks about his thesis work on nuclear magnetic resonance in solid hydrogen. He then discusses his postdoc at Berkeley working with John Clarke on quantum tunneling and his subsequent return to Saclay where he eventually helped found the Quantonics Lab and later was named Director of Research at CEA-Saclay. Devoret recalls the circumstances around his move to Yale and his work with Steve Girvin. He reflects on several of his interest areas during this time, such as microwave reflectometry, nanofabrication, remote entanglement, and quantum computing. At the end of the interview, Devoret offers advice for how to avoid doing bad science, and he shares his recent interest in the popularization of science, particularly making quantum physics more accessible.