Former KAUST student featured in Nature
Muhammed Sameed, a 2012 KAUST master's degree alumnus currently working at CERN in Switzerland, co-authored a paper recently published in Nature focusing on antimatter. Photo by Usman Amin Fiaz.
Muhammed Sameed, a KAUST material science and engineering master's degree graduate (2012), co-authored a paper recently published in Nature that focuses on antimatter and specifically antimatter spectroscopy. Sameed conducted his research at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva, Switzerland, where he currently works as a research scientist.
"At CERN, I work on an experiment called ALPHA, where we study the properties of something known as antimatter. Since antimatter is extremely rare in nature, we artificially make atoms of antimatter in the lab and then experiment with them using electric and magnetic fields. The Nature publication is special because it is the first time we have been able to measure how atoms of antimatter interact with light," Sameed explained. "We shined laser light on trapped atoms of antimatter and observed how these atoms absorb light of a very specific color."
Sameed noted that “having a research publication in a prestigious journal like Nature is the dream of every scientist. I was both extremely excited and humbled at having accomplished this accolade at such an early stage of my career. This achievement was not an individual effort but the culmination of countless hours of hard work by the entire ALPHA team. It is also testament to the quality of knowledge and experience we have received during our academic careers."
"KAUST was a delightfully edifying experience for me," he continued. "In addition to being taught by remarkable professors, I was amazed by the amount of learning that went on outside the classroom: my favorite memories include discussing philosophical paradoxes at the diner and solving intricate puzzles at the Student Center. At KAUST, I discovered that there are no limits to gaining knowledge and learning new things; indeed, the best ideas come from the most unexpected of places."
- By David Murphy, KAUST News
Muhammed Sameed, a KAUST material science and engineering master's degree graduate (2012), co-authored a paper recently published in Nature that focuses on antimatter and specifically antimatter spectroscopy. Sameed conducted his research at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva, Switzerland, where he currently works as a research scientist.
"At CERN, I work on an experiment called ALPHA, where we study the properties of something known as antimatter. Since antimatter is extremely rare in nature, we artificially make atoms of antimatter in the lab and then experiment with them using electric and magnetic fields. The Nature publication is special because it is the first time we have been able to measure how atoms of antimatter interact with light," Sameed explained. "We shined laser light on trapped atoms of antimatter and observed how these atoms absorb light of a very specific color."
Sameed noted that “having a research publication in a prestigious journal like Nature is the dream of every scientist. I was both extremely excited and humbled at having accomplished this accolade at such an early stage of my career. This achievement was not an individual effort but the culmination of countless hours of hard work by the entire ALPHA team. It is also testament to the quality of knowledge and experience we have received during our academic careers."
"KAUST was a delightfully edifying experience for me," he continued. "In addition to being taught by remarkable professors, I was amazed by the amount of learning that went on outside the classroom: my favorite memories include discussing philosophical paradoxes at the diner and solving intricate puzzles at the Student Center. At KAUST, I discovered that there are no limits to gaining knowledge and learning new things; indeed, the best ideas come from the most unexpected of places."
- By David Murphy, KAUST News