John L. Hall

John Lewis "Jan" Hall (born August 21, 1934) is an American physicist. He shared the 2005 Nobel Prize in Physics with Theodor W. Hänsch "for his contribution to the quantum theory of optical coherence."

Hall is currently a NIST Senior Fellow, emeritus, and remains a Fellow at JILA, formerly the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics, and adjoint professor at the CU-Boulder Physics Department. JILA is a research institute managed jointly by CU-Boulder and NIST.

Hall shared half of the Nobel Prize with Theodor W. Hänsch for their pioneering work on laser-based precision spectroscopy and the optical frequency comb technique. The other half of the prize was awarded to Roy J. Glauber.

Hall has received many other honors for his pioneering work, including the Optical Society of America's Max Born Award "for pioneering the field of stable lasers, including their applications in fundamental physics and, most recently, in the stabilization of femtosecond lasers to provide dramatic advances in optical frequency metrology".

Hall is one of the 20 American recipients of the Nobel Prize in Physics to sign a letter addressed to President George W. Bush in May 2008, urging him to "reverse the damage done to basic science research in the Fiscal Year 2008 Omnibus Appropriations Bill" by requesting additional emergency funding for the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, the National Science Foundation, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

In 2015, Hall signed the Mainau Declaration 2015 on Climate Change on the final day of the 65th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting. The declaration was signed by a total of 76 Nobel Laureates and handed to then-President of the French Republic, François Hollande, as part of the successful COP21 climate summit in Paris.

In 2018 Hall donated his Nobel Prize medal to the University of Colorado Boulder.

Honours and awards President George W. Bush meets with the 2005 Nobel Prize recipients. From left to right are Dr. John Hall, 2005 Nobel Prize in Physics; Dr. Thomas C. Schelling, 2005 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences; Dr. Roy J. Glauber, 2005 Nobel Prize in Physics; Dr. Richard R. Schrock and Dr. Robert H. Grubbs, 2005 Nobel Prize winners in Chemistry. National Carbon Company Fellow in Physics, 1957–1961 Department of Commerce Gold Medal, 1969 Samuel W. Stratton Award, 1971 Department of Commerce Gold Medal, 1974 (group awards) IR-100: Laser stabilizer selected as one of "100 best new products of the year," 1975 IR-100: Laser wavelength meter ("Lambdameter") selected as one of "100 best new products of the year," 1977 E. U. Condon Award, 1979 Charles Hard Townes Award of the Optical Society of America, 1984, jointly with V. P. Chebotayev (Academy of Sciences, USSR) Davisson-Germer Prize of the American Physical Society, 1988 Docteur Honoris Causa de l'Universite Paris Nord, 1989 Frederic Ives Medal of the Optical Society of America, 1991 Einstein Prize for Laser Science, 1992 Arthur L. Shawlow Prize of the American Physical Society, 1993 Allen V. Astin Measurement Science Award, 2000 Max Born Award of the Optical Society of America, 2002 Presidential Rank Award from the Office of Personnel Management, 2002 Department of Commerce Gold Medal, 2002 (group awards) Rabi Award of the IEEE Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control Society, 2004 Légion d'Honneur Membership, 2004 Doctor of Science, honoris causa, University of Glasgow, 2007 Honorary Member of the Optical Society of America, 2007