University of Texas
Harry Jeffrey Kimble
April 23, 1949–September 2, 2024

 

 

 

Jeff was born in Floydada, Texas, on April 23, 1949, to Dr. John W. and Joyce Eleanor Koenon Kimble. His father was an optometrist. His mother had graduated from Beloit College where she was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She later worked at the local high school. Jeff had three brother, John, James and Joel. At Floydana High School, Jeff excelled in sports. He attended Abilene Christian University on a basketball scholarship and served as captain of the team. Jeff was an avid tennis player and continued to play throughout his life.

Jeff graduated summa cum laude from Abilene Christian University in 1971 and earned his master's and doctoral degrees from University of Rochester. He was supervised by celebrated professor, Leonard Mandel. As a graduate student under Mandel, Kimble observed the first photon anti-bunching. The work was published as H. J. Kimble, M. Dagenais, and L. Mandel. "Photon Antibunching in Resonance Fluorescence." Phys. Rev. Lett. 39(1977):691.

Following graduation for Rochester, Jeff spent two years as a scientist for the General Motors Research Laboratory until 1979 when he joined the UT Faculty. He was a member of the Atomic and Molecular Research Group. At Texas, Jeff received a number of patents with his students. In 1988, he was appointed to an O'Donnell Chair in Physics. He left in 1989 to accept a professorship at Cal Tech.

At Abilene Christian, Jeff was forever influenced by his teacher and mentor, Professor Charles Ivey. They remained close friend for the duration of Jeff's life. Here are some comments that Dr. Ivey wrote about Jeff and his days at Abilene Christian, "He was one of my first students and it was a thrilling time in my life to have such an inquisitive and exceptional student.  He was a basketball player, the starting center for the University, and a hard worker who dedicated himself to always doing his best.  For me there was one defining moment when he had an experience that impacted him deeply.  He had an insight that opened his exceptional intellect to his love of physics.  In a class called Modern Physics students get their introduction to the mysteries of quantum mechanics.  Jeff was both amazed and motivated by the seeming magic of this aspect of physics.  It created a time when it seemed to me that Jeff shifted gears into his life long pursuit.'

"The topic was about “tunneling” through a barrier, a quantum phenomenon in which a ”particle-wave” changes location by “teleportation” through a barrier to a place on the other side.  It is like going through a wall by simply disappearing on one side and appearing on the other.  Jeff’s well educated classical background found this just too mystical and impossible to accept.  He spoke up in class challenging that such a thing could happen.  I told him it was actually possible but almost infinitely unlikely  for him to disappear and reappear from his seat to a position out in the hallway.  The probability was not zero that this could happen although the probability was essentially near zero that as many particles as his body contained could all “teleport” outside the classroom as an entangled phenomenon.  He objected pretty strenuously but showed a sense of wonder.  I then told him he had an assignment to prove the probability of such an event as teleportation was non-zero, no matter the number of states.'

"From that point forward, Jeff viewed every problem as an elegant puzzle of quantum mechanics and later on there was still an unresolved problem with the collision QM with Einstein’s general relativity at the smallest of spatial distances, or space-time.  He wanted to know the physics that was at the basis of any and everything.  He used to say he loved finding unanswered problems.  These were the things that excited him.  He wanted to delve deeper and deeper into the mysteries of physics.'  

 "After graduation and when he had been poached from the University of Texas faculty to a professorship at Cal Tech, he continued his pursuit of knowledge and indeed he actually did finally teleport a quantum particle of light 2.7 meters, the first person to perform this magical event, and prove teleportation.  This was just one of many first Jeff Kimble achieved, and he was honored around the world for his accomplishments.  He was a pioneer in quantum information and envisioned a quantum internet.  Jeff continued his aggressive pursuit of unsolved problems and performing amazing experiments for his entire professional life.  He also inspired students of his own, and a professor of distinction at UT Austin (Mark Raizen), whom Jeff trained, called to share that he also was emotionally distraught because the world had lost a special person and very unique scientist." (Thanks to Dr. Ivey for permission to include this.)

Jeff married Tynette Smith in 1969 in Floyd, Texas. They were divorced in 1975. In 1977, he married Margaret Ann Smith.They had two daughters, Katherine Jessica and Megan Elizabeth.

Following retirement from Cal Tech, Jeff and Margaret returned to Austin, Texas. He passed away September 2, 2024.

Obituary from Austin American Statesman:

Harry Jeffrey Kimble, a brilliant quantum physicist and devoted husband, father, and grandfather, died in Austin, Texas, on Monday, September 2. He was 75.

Jeff was dazzled by life. He was delighted by nature, captivated by physics, and above all else, devoted to his family. He adored his wife, Margaret Smith-Kimble; his two daughters, Megan Kimble and Katherine Grooms; his son-in-law, Tyler Grooms; and his three granddaughters, Eleanor Grooms, Bryn Grooms, and Madeline Grooms.

Jeff was born on April 23, 1949, in Floydada, Texas, to Joyce and John Kimble, the second of four sons: John, Jim, and Joel, who died in 2010. Jeff attended Abilene Christian College on a basketball scholarship and received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Rochester in 1978. He was a professor at the University of Texas at Austin from 1979 to 1989 and at Caltech in Pasadena, California, from 1989 until his retirement in 2021.

During his distinguished career, Jeff pioneered the field of quantum optics, pushed the boundaries of quantum information science, and mentored dozens of young scientists from across the world. A member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, Jeff was a daring and creative experimental physicist who profoundly shaped the field of quantum physics.

Perhaps Jeff’s most famous experiment involved Alice and Bob, nicknames for two sensitive pieces of equipment in his lab at Caltech. In 1998, Jeff demonstrated that Alice could send a message to Bob (teleport a beam of light) using quantum entanglement. Normally, Alice and Bob would communicate through what are known as classical means, such as by sending signals through telephone wiring. Jeff, however, demonstrated that signals between the two can exist in a quantum state. This experiment is considered the first fundamental high-fidelity demonstration of teleportation. For this, Jeff received various accolades, including a callout on The Daily Show (as well as an incalculable number of teleportation jokes).

Jeff did not much care for fashion, but he loved to shop for outdoor gear, which is what he was doing in 1977 in Birmingham, Michigan, when he met a salesclerk who left him “stupefied.” Heart racing, he asked her if she liked coffee. “There are those moments, not very often, but it’s better to try to run and jump on that train than let it fade into the distance,” he later recalled. Meeting his wife, he said, was “a miracle in my life.” Jeff and Margaret, a lifelong educator, were married for 45 years, the Ioves of each other’s lives.

Jeff was a proud father to Katherine and Megan and professed his love frequently and without reservation. Katie followed in his footsteps to become a professor. Megan, a journalist, shares his passion for the outdoors and followed his footsteps on hikes across the world.

For many years, Jeff hiked or biked into the San Gabriel Mountains almost daily. For Jeff, there was no bad weather, only bad clothes. In 2021, he and Midge left his beloved mountains to move to Austin, Texas, to be closer to their family. Jeff was a goofy, kind, and caring grandfather, his days illuminated by his darling granddaughters.

Jeff was silly and serious in equal measure. He felt things deeply. He danced like no one was watching, but often many people were, because Jeff dancing was a sight to behold, impossible to resist, much like his dazzling smile. He knew what mattered in life and, mostly, he ignored the rest.

In early 2023, Jeff was diagnosed with dementia, an especially cruel disease for such a brilliant man. Midge cared for Jeff during this difficult illness, selflessly and with enormous fortitude, a testament to their extraordinary partnership.

His family will love and miss him always.

 

Below is an obituary written by Whitney Clavin for the Cal Tech Physics website.

Harry Jeffrey Kimble, the William L. Valentine Professor of Physics, Emeritus, passed away on September 2, 2024, at the age of 75. A giant in the field of physics, Kimble—who was also known as H.J. Kimble and Jeff Kimble—performed groundbreaking experiments in quantum optics and quantum information science. His achievements include some of the earliest demonstrations of quantum squeezing and quantum teleportation, among many other trailblazing experiments.

Kimble is perhaps best known for his pioneering work in a field known as cavity quantum electrodynamics, or cavity QED, which is the study of single atoms trapped in cavities in which they strongly interact with single photons of light. Kimble's cavity QED experiments formed the basis of many quantum technologies being developed today. His research also led to experiments that laid the foundations for research into quantum networks—essentially a quantum internet—in which ensembles of atoms are entangled.

"Jeff had a very deep influence on me as a scientist and as a person," says John Preskill, Caltech's Richard P. Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics. "I was a particle physicist originally but became interested in quantum computers around 1994 and 1995 when they were first starting to get attention. If not for Jeff, I wouldn't have made the pivot that I did from particle physics to quantum information science. He was a very inspiring and daring scientist whom I am grateful for."

Oskar Painter, Caltech's John G Braun Professor of Applied Physics and Physics, says Kimble "was an explorer at heart, who deeply loved the challenge of a solo back-packing trip to Patagonia almost as much as he loved uncovering the mysteries of the quantum world. He was the most intense and inspirational person I have ever worked with, and he had a tremendous impact on numerous generations of students like myself who dreamed of one day taming quantum systems and applying them to new ways of communicating and processing information."

Kimble also helped establish the Institute for Quantum Information and Matter (IQIM) at Caltech, together with Preskill, who is currently the Allen V. C. Davis and Lenabelle Davis Leadership Chair of IQIM. The center's roots go back to the late 1990s, when Kimble and Preskill received a grant from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to study quantum computing's potential applications in cryptography. Later, in 2000, they were awarded funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for their growing group, which, at that time, was called the Institute for Quantum Information (IQI).

By 2011, advances in quantum computing hardware gave Kimble, Preskill, and other colleagues the impetus to apply for more NSF funding to broaden IQI's scope to include experimental work. They received that funding and changed the center's name to the Institute for Quantum Information and Matter, of which Kimble became the inaugural director.

"IQIM would not have happened without Jeff," Preskill says. "Over the years, we did several research proposals together and those interactions were very exciting and helped to steer us scientifically."

"Jeff's impact on Caltech went well beyond his own research," says Fiona Harrison, the Harold A. Rosen Professor of Physics and the Kent and Joyce Kresa Leadership Chair of the Division of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy. "He set unwaveringly high standards, his scientific interests were very broad, and Jeff never did anything half-heartedly. As a result, his advice was highly sought on issues ranging from who to hire onto the faculty to what new strategic directions Caltech physics should pursue. His presence as an admired colleague and friend influenced generations of Caltech scientists, including myself."

Kimble was born in Floydada, Texas, in 1949. He obtained his bachelor's degree from Abilene Christian University in Texas in 1971, and his PhD from the University of Rochester in New York in 1978. From 1979 to 1989, he served as a professor of physics at University of Texas at Austin. Kimble became a professor of physics at Caltech in 1989, the William L. Valentine Professor in 1997, and professor emeritus in 2021.

In an IQIM blog post, one of Kimble's former postdocs, Jun Ye, now a professor of physics at the University of Colorado Boulder, recalled shaking hands with Kimble when they first met. "His grip was more than just firm; it actually squeezed the bones of my hand. So naturally, I took the handshake as a sign that he really wanted me to join his group. When an offer of a Caltech fellowship arrived three months later, I accepted it without hesitation. In 1997, I had no way of knowing that Jeff's way of doing science would leave a profound mark on my career and that his deep friendship would continue to enrich my life and that of my family for many years … He is a daring pioneer, an original thinker, a groundbreaking technologist, and a relentless seeker of ultimate truth and knowledge."

Kimble summed up his own attitude toward science in an animated video produced by PHD Comics that explains entanglement. "If you want to be on the cusp of the future, you have to be willing to fail," he said at the end of the movie. "We've come up some climb, and it didn't work; you better go down, try another way. You better believe it's scary. But it's an exhilarating intellectual adventure."

Kimble received many awards for his pioneering research, including the Leonard Mandel Quantum Optics Award (2024), the Herbert Walther Award (2013), the Julius Edgar Lilienfeld Prize (2004), the Albert A. Michelson Medal of the Franklin Institute (1990), the Einstein Prize for Laser Science (1989), and Optica's Max Born Award (1996). He was a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of Optica, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and the APS, as well as a National Security Science and Engineering Faculty Fellow.

Family was also very important to Kimble. "What also stood out to me about Jeff was his devotion to his family," Painter says. "He really drew strength from them and prioritized them in a way I have rarely seen in someone so driven by their work."

Kimble is survived by his wife Midge Kimble, their children Katie Grooms and Megan Kimble, and their grandchildren Ellie, Bryn, and Madeline. He is also survived by two brothers, Jim Kimble and John Kimble.

 

Harry Jeffrey Kimble Album

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