Alan Jay Heeger (born January 22, 1936) is an American

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

academic An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

and Nobel Prize laureate in chemistry. Heegar was elected as a member into the

National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American Nonprofit organization, nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. It is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), along with the National Academ ...

in 2002 for co-founding the field of conducting polymers and for pioneering work in making these novel materials available for technological applications.

Life and career

Heeger was born in

Sioux City, Iowa Sioux City () is a city in Woodbury County, Iowa, Woodbury and Plymouth County, Iowa, Plymouth counties in the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 85,797 in the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Iowa, fo ...

, into a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

family. He grew up in Akron, Iowa, where his father owned a general store. At age nine, following his father's death, the family moved to Sioux City. Heeger earned a B.S. in physics and mathematics from the

University of Nebraska-Lincoln A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

in 1957, and a Ph.D in physics from 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 1961. From 1962 to 1982 he was on the faculty of the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

. In 1982 he commenced his present appointment as a professor in the Physics Department and the Materials Department at the

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an ...

. His research has led to the formation of numerous start-up companies including Uniax, Konarka, and Sirigen, founded in 2003 by Guillermo C. Bazan, Patrick J. Dietzen, Brent S. Gaylord. Alan Heeger was a founder of Uniax, which was acquired by

DuPont Dupont, DuPont, Du Pont, duPont, or du Pont may refer to: People * Dupont (surname) Dupont, also spelled as DuPont, duPont, Du Pont, or du Pont is a French surname meaning "of the bridge", historically indicating that the holder of the surname re ...

. He won the

Nobel Prize for Chemistry The Nobel Prize in Chemistry () is awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to scientists in the various fields of chemistry. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outst ...

in 2000 along with Alan G. MacDiarmid and

Hideki Shirakawa is a Japanese chemist, engineer, and Professor Emeritus at the University of Tsukuba and Zhejiang University. He is best known for his discovery of conductive polymers. He was co-recipient of the 2000 Nobel Prize in Chemistry jointly with Alan ...

"for their discovery and development of conductive polymers"; They published their results on

polyacetylene Polyacetylene (IUPAC name: polyethyne) usually refers to an organic polymer with the repeating unit . The name refers to its conceptual construction from polymerization of acetylene to give a chain with repeating olefin groups. This compound is ...

conductive polymer Conductive polymers or, more precisely, intrinsically conducting polymers (ICPs) are organic polymers that conduct electricity. Such compounds may have metallic conductivity or can be semiconductors. The main advantage of conductive polymers ...

in 1977. This led to the construction of the Su–Schrieffer–Heeger model, a simple model for

topological insulator A topological insulator is a material whose interior behaves as an electrical insulator while its surface behaves as an electrical conductor, meaning that electrons can only move along the surface of the material. A topological insulator is an ...

s. He had won the Oliver E. Buckley Prize of the

American Physical Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of ...

in 1983 and, in 1995, the

Balzan Prize The International Balzan Prize Foundation awards four annual monetary prizes to people or organizations who have made outstanding achievements in the fields of humanities, natural sciences, culture, as well as for endeavours for peace and the b ...

for Science of Non-Biological Materials. His sons are the

neuroscientist A neuroscientist (or neurobiologist) is a scientist specializing in neuroscience that deals with the anatomy and function of neurons, Biological neural network, neural circuits, and glia, and their Behavior, behavioral, biological, and psycholo ...

David Heeger and the immunologist Peter Heeger. In October 2010, Heeger participated in the

USA Science and Engineering Festival The USA Science & Engineering Festival is a bi-annual science festival held in Washington, D.C. Founded in 2010 by Larry Bock, the festival is the largest celebration of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines in the U ...

's Lunch with a Laureate program where middle and high school students engage in an informal conversation with a Nobel Prize-winning scientist over a brown-bag lunch. Heeger is also a member of the

's Advisory Board. Heeger has been a judge of the ''STAGE'' International Script Competition three times (2006, 2007, 2010). "Perhaps the greatest pleasure of being a scientist is to have an abstract idea, then to do an experiment (more often a series of experiments is required) that demonstrates the idea was correct; that is, Nature actually behaves as conceived in the mind of the scientist. This process is the essence of creativity in science. I have been fortunate to have experienced this intense pleasure many times in my life." Alan J Heeger, Never Lose Your Nerve!Never Lose Your Nerve! http://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/10.1142/9724

Publication list

Journal Articles: * * Technical Reports: *Heeger, A. J. and A. G. MacDiarmid.
Polyacetylene, (CH)_x, as an Emerging Material for Solar Cell Applications. Final Technical Report, March 19, 1979 – March 18, 1980
"

United States Department of Energy The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government that oversees U.S. national energy policy and energy production, the research and development of nuclear power, the military's nuclear w ...

, (June 5, 1980). *Heeger, A. J., Sinclair, M., et al.
Subgap Absorption in Conjugated Polymers
" Sandia National Laboratory,

, (1991). *Heeger, A. J., Sinclair, M., et al.
Measurements of Photo-induced Changes in Conjugated Polymers
" Sandia National Laboratory,

, (1991).

Autobiography

, World Scientific Publishing,

References

External links

''Curriculum Vitae of Alan J. Heeger''
posted at University of California, Santa Barbara. Retrieved November 18, 2007 * including the Nobel lecture December 8, 2000 ''Semiconducting and Metallic Polymers: The Fourth Generation of Polymeric Materials''
Free to view video interview
Harry Kroto NL talks to Alan Heeger, 2005, provided by the Vega Science Trust
UCSB profilePhotos and video from presentation
in Brno University of Technology,

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heeger, Alan Jay 1936 births Living people Nobel laureates in Chemistry American Nobel laureates Jewish Nobel laureates Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Foreign members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences 21st-century American physicists Jewish American physicists Molecular electronics Organic semiconductors American polymer scientists and engineers People from Sioux City, Iowa University of Nebraska–Lincoln alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni University of California, Santa Barbara faculty Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering Fellows of the American Physical Society Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Prize winners People from Akron, Iowa

Life and career

Publication list

Autobiography

See also

References

External links