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MagLab U > Pioneers  ArrowEric Cornell (1961-Present)  Leon
Cooper Photo by Ken Abbott  Born in Palo Alto, California, and
raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts – homes to Stanford and the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, respectively – you could
say Eric Cornell was destined to become a renowned scientist.
And while he did reach the pinnacle of his field winning a share
of the Nobel Prize for his role in the discovery of fifth state
of matter, Cornell's path took a detour along the way.
Cornell's parents were finishing their post-graduate education
at Stanford University when he was born, and shortly after the
family moved to Cambridge where his father took a job teaching
civil engineering at MIT. Cornell's mother taught him to read at
an early age, and he devoured books on a wide range of subjects.
In elementary school, Cornell said he would often
surreptitiously read books of his own during class if he found
the material more interesting th