Robert Betts Laughlin (born November 1, 1950) is the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of

Physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

and

Applied Physics Applied physics is the application of physics to solve scientific or engineering problems. It is usually considered a bridge or a connection between physics and engineering. "Applied" is distinguished from "pure" by a subtle combination of fac ...

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

. Along with Horst L. Störmer of

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

and Daniel C. Tsui of

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

, he was awarded a share of the 1998

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

for their explanation of the

fractional quantum Hall effect The fractional quantum Hall effect (fractional QHE or FQHE) is the observation of precisely quantized plateaus in the Hall conductance of 2-dimensional (2D) electrons at fractional values of e^2/h, where ''e'' is the electron charge and ''h'' i ...

. In 1983, Laughlin was first to provide a many body

wave function In quantum physics, a wave function (or wavefunction) is a mathematical description of the quantum state of an isolated quantum system. The most common symbols for a wave function are the Greek letters and (lower-case and capital psi (letter) ...

, now known as the '' Laughlin wavefunction,'' for the

, which was able to correctly explain the fractionalized charge observed in experiments. This state has since been interpreted as the integer quantum Hall effect of the composite fermion. His 2017 paper, "Pumped thermal grid storage with heat exchange" inspired Project Malta at Google X and subsequently Malta inc.

Biography

Laughlin was born in

Visalia, California Visalia ( ) is a city in the agricultural San Joaquin Valley of California. The population was 141,384 as per the 2020 census. Visalia is the fifth-most populous city in the San Joaquin Valley, the 38th most populous in California, and 183 ...

. He earned a B.A. in

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

in 1972, and his Ph.D. in physics in 1979 at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

(MIT). Between 2004 and 2006, he served as the president of

KAIST KAIST (originally the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology) is a national university, national research university located in Daedeok Innopolis, Daejeon, South Korea. KAIST was established by the Korean government in 1971 as the ...

Daejeon Daejeon (; ) is South Korea's list of cities in South Korea, fifth-largest metropolis, with a population of nearly 1.5 million. Located in a central lowland valley between the Sobaek Mountains and the Geum River, the city is known both as a ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

Honors and awards

* E. O. Lawrence Award in Physics – 1984 * Oliver E. Buckley Prize – 1986 * Elected

Fellow of the American Physical Society The American Physical Society honors members with the designation ''Fellow'' for having made significant accomplishments to the field of physics. The following lists are divided chronologically by the year of designation. * List of fellows of the ...

- 1986 *

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

– 1994 * Benjamin Franklin Medal for Physics of the Franklin Institute – 1998 *

Nobel Prize in Physics The Nobel Prize in Physics () is an annual award given by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for those who have made the most outstanding contributions to mankind in the field of physics. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the ...

– 1998 * Golden Plate Award of the

American Academy of Achievement The American Academy of Achievement, colloquially known as the Academy of Achievement, is a nonprofit educational organization that recognizes some of the highest-achieving people in diverse fields and gives them the opportunity to meet one ano ...

– 1999 * Doctorate of Letters, University of Maryland – 2005 * Onsager Medal – 2007

Publications

Laughlin published a book entitled '' A Different Universe: Reinventing Physics from the Bottom Down'' in 2005. The book argues for

emergence In philosophy, systems theory, science, and art, emergence occurs when a complex entity has properties or behaviors that its parts do not have on their own, and emerge only when they interact in a wider whole. Emergence plays a central rol ...

as a replacement for

reductionism Reductionism is any of several related philosophical ideas regarding the associations between phenomena which can be described in terms of simpler or more fundamental phenomena. It is also described as an intellectual and philosophical positi ...

, in addition to general commentary on hot-topic issues. * (Trad. esp.: ''Un universo diferente. La reinvención de la física en la Edad de la Emergencia'', Buenos Aires/Madrid, Katz editores, 2007, ). * (Trad. esp.: ''Crímenes de la razón. El fin de la mentalidad científica'', Buenos Aires/Madrid, Katz editores, 2010, ). * ''Mente y materia. ¿Qué es la vida? Sobre la vigencia de Erwin Schrödinger'' (with Michael R. Hendrickson; Robert Pogue Harrison and Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht), Buenos Aires/Madrid, Katz editores, 2010, . *

References

External links

* * including the Nobel Lecture on December 8, 1998 ''Fractional Quantization''
The Crime of Reason and the Closing of the Scientific Mind
lecture at the

Linda Hall Library The Linda Hall Library is a privately endowed American library of science, engineering and technology located in Kansas City, Missouri, on the grounds of a urban arboretum. It claims to be the "largest independently funded public library of sc ...

, May 4, 2011 {{DEFAULTSORT:Laughlin, Robert B. Nobel laureates in Physics American Nobel laureates 1950 births Living people University of California, Berkeley alumni Scientists at Bell Labs People from Visalia, California Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Stanford University Department of Applied Physics faculty Stanford University Department of Physics faculty Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Prize winners Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science alumni Fellows of the American Physical Society Presidents of KAIST Benjamin Franklin Medal (Franklin Institute) laureates