The story
Named after Sisyphus from Greek mythology, who was doomed eternally to roll a stone up a mountain, only to have it roll down again whenever he got it near the summit.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Sisyphus cooling
Today it means: The use of specially selected laser light, hitting atoms from various angles to both cool and trap them in a potential well, effectively rolling the atoms down a hill of potential energy until they have lost their kinetic energy. Full definition →