- 2010 Wolf Prize in Physics
Intro
American theoretical and experimental physicist known for the Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt inequality. In 2010, he was awarded the Wolf prize “for the fundamental conceptual and experimental contributions to the foundations of quantum physics, specifically a series of tests of Bell’s inequalities or extensions there of using entangled quantum states.”
Education and Work Experience
1970, Ph.D. in Physics, Columbia University
1975-1986, Research Physicist, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory 1990-1997, Research Physicist, Physics Dept, UC Berkeley
1997-Present, Consultant, Inventor, Research Physicist, J.F. Clauser & Assoc.
Honors and Awards
1982, The Reality Foundation Prize 2010, Wolf Prize in Physics
2011, Thomson Reuters Citation Laureate-Physics
Major Academic Achievements
In 1972, working with Stuart Freedman, Clauser carried out the first experimental test of the CHSH-Bell's theorem predictions. This was the world's first observation of
quantum entanglement, and was the first experimental observation of a violation of a Bell inequality. In 1974, working with Michael Horne, he first showed that a generalization of Bell's Theorem provides severe constraints for all local realistic theories of nature (a.k.a. objective local theories). That work introduced the Clauser-Horne (CH) inequality as the first fully general experimental requirement set by local realism. It also introduced the "CH no-enhancement assumption", whereupon the CH inequality reduces to the CHSH inequality, and whereupon associated experimental tests also constrain local realism.