In a standing-room-only presentation, Dr. Douglas D. Osheroff asked the audience the above question. President Chen opened the talk with a quote from the famous Chinese poet Su Tseh a thousand years ago that "One may be enlightened with a simple morsel of an icon's brilliance" to welcome the Nobel Laureate's second visit. "Dr. Osheroff was known for his research on a subject of great physics importance: what really happens to atoms at the absolute zero temperature?"

Dr. Osheroff began by telling the audience that he was asked the same question many years ago, and explicated that thermal equilibrium occurs at all temperature, even at absolute zero, except that at absolute zero, superfluids like ³He exhibit a negative enthalpy of fusion—the basis he used for cooling ³He in his graduate study experiment. He also explained in solid ³He, the uncertainty in momentum causing nuclear spin rearrangements.

Dr. Osheroff's presentation was filled with humorous anecdotes, interrupted frequently by cheers and applauses from the audience. The once-esoteric subject became suddenly appreciable. Active exchange between the physics master and the attentive audience, and Dr. Osheroff illuminating answering left an indelible impression with the audience.

Born in Aberdeen, Washington in 1945, Dr. Osheroff studied at Caltech where he took physics classes under Richard Feynman. He went on to Cornell University for his graduate study, and in 1973 was awarded a Ph.D. in physics before joining Bell Lab. to work on low temperature researches. Since 1987 he has been teaching physics at Stanford; and chaired the physics department from 1993 to 1996.

Dr. Osheroff was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1996 together with his thesis advisor Robert Richardson and David Lee of Cornell University. He is not only a popular lecturer but also an outstanding teacher—he was the recipient of the "Outstanding Teaching Award" at Stanford in 1993.