Antonio Helio de Castro Neto, often referred to as the
Godfather of Graphene,'
is a Brazilian-born

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 ...

who serves as the founder and director of the Centre for Advanced 2D Materials (previously known as the Graphene Research Centre) and as Co-Director of th
Institute for Functional Intelligent Materials (IFIM)
at the

National University of Singapore The National University of Singapore (NUS) is a national university, national Public university, public research university in Singapore. It was officially established in 1980 by the merging of the University of Singapore and Nanyang University ...

. He is a condensed matter theorist known for his work in the theory of

metals A metal () is a material that, when polished or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. These properties are all associated with having electrons available at the Fermi level, as against no ...

magnets A magnet is a material or object that produces a magnetic field. This magnetic field is invisible but is responsible for the most notable property of a magnet: a force that pulls on other ferromagnetic materials, such as iron, steel, nickel, ...

superconductors Superconductivity is a set of physical properties observed in superconductors: materials where electrical resistance vanishes and magnetic fields are expelled from the material. Unlike an ordinary metallic conductor, whose resistance decreases ...

graphene Graphene () is a carbon allotrope consisting of a Single-layer materials, single layer of atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice, honeycomb planar nanostructure. The name "graphene" is derived from "graphite" and the suffix -ene, indicating ...

and

two-dimensional materials In materials science, the term single-layer materials or 2D materials refers to crystalline solids consisting of a single layer of atoms. These materials are promising for some applications but remain the focus of research. Single-layer materials ...

. He is a distinguished professor in the Departments of Materials Science Engineering, and Physics and a professor at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.https://www.eng.nus.edu.sg/ece/staff/castro-neto-antonio-helio/ He was elected as a fellow 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 2003. In 2011 he was elected as a fellow of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...

Education

In 1984, Castro Neto attended the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP). In Campinas, he completed his undergraduate and

Master of Science A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medici ...

degree in physics under Amir O. Caldeira. In 1991, he moved to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

where he obtained his

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

degree at the

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United States. Established in 1867, it is the f ...

under the supervision of

Eduardo Fradkin Eduardo Hector Fradkin (born February 21, 1950) is an Argentinian theoretical physicist known for working in various areas of condensed matter physics, primarily using quantum field theoretical approaches. He is a Donald Biggar Willett Professor ...

. His PhD thesis dealt with the understanding and description of the lowest energy excitations of Fermi liquids.

Career

After graduation in 1994, he joined the Institute for Theoretical Physics (currently,

Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics The Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics (KITP) is a research institute of the University of California, Santa Barbara dedicated to theoretical physics. KITP is one of 20 Kavli Foundation (United_States)#The Kavli Institutes, Kavli Institutes ...

) 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 ...

. There he studied the electronic properties of nanomaterials and

nanostructure A nanostructure is a structure of intermediate size between microscopic and molecular structures. Nanostructural detail is microstructure at nanoscale. In describing nanostructures, it is necessary to differentiate between the number of dimen ...

s under Matthew Fisher. In 1995, he moved to the

University of California, Riverside The University of California, Riverside (UCR or UC Riverside) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Riverside, California, United States. It is one of the ten campuses of the University of Cali ...

as an assistant professor. In 2000, he moved to

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

as a professor of physics. Castro Neto published on theoretical aspects of graphene such as the effect of vacancies in the electronic properties ; the electronic properties of bilayer graphene; superconductivity;

twistronics Twistronics (from ''twist'' and ''electronics'') is the study of how the angle (the twist) between layers of two-dimensional materials can change their electrical properties. Materials such as bilayer graphene have been shown to have vastly diff ...

; Coulomb blockade in graphene mesoscopic structures; atomic collapse at charge impurities; localized magnetic states; gap opening in biased bilayers; strain engineering; and impurity induced spin-orbit effect. In 2016, Thomson Reuters recognized Castro Neto as among the top 1% of researchers in physics. He was also recognized by

Clarivate Analytics Clarivate Plc is a British-American publicly traded analytics company that operates a collection of subscription-based services, in the areas of bibliometrics and scientometrics; business and market intelligence, and competitive profiling ...

from 2017 to 2019. His work has been cited more than 101,602 times, and he has an

h-index The ''h''-index is an author-level metric that measures both the productivity and citation impact of the publications, initially used for an individual scientist or scholar. The ''h''-index correlates with success indicators such as winning t ...

of 122. In 2008, he moved to the National University of Singapore, starting the Graphene Research Centre (GRC) in 2010 with facilities for the synthesis, characterization, and device fabrication of graphene devices. In 2014, the GRC was expanded by a grant of the National Research Foundation of Singapore to explore other 2D materials beyond graphene and their heterostructures with the creation of the Centre for Advanced 2D Materials. Castro Neto has initiated and later closed 3 science spinoffs out of the National University in Singapore: 2D Materials in 2015; MADE Advanced Materials in 2017 and Graphene Watts in 2019.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Castro Neto, Antonio H. Living people Grainger College of Engineering alumni 20th-century Brazilian physicists 21st-century Brazilian physicists People from Paranaguá 1964 births Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellows of the American Physical Society Academic staff of the National University of Singapore Brazilian expatriate academics in the United States Brazilian expatriates in Singapore State University of Campinas alumni Boston University faculty Brazilian expatriates in the United States University of California, Riverside faculty