Ashvin Vishwanath (born January 9, 1973) is an Indian-American

theoretical physicist Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain, and predict natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental physics, which uses experi ...

known for important contributions to

condensed matter physics Condensed matter physics is the field of physics that deals with the macroscopic and microscopic physical properties of matter, especially the solid and liquid State of matter, phases, that arise from electromagnetic forces between atoms and elec ...

. He is a professor of physics at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

. Vishwanath was elected as a member of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

in 2021.

Education and career

Vishwanath holds an undergraduate degree from

Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur The Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IIT- Kanpur or IIT-K) is a public institute of technology located in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India. As an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), it was declared an Institute of National Importance by ...

, completed in 1996. He received his Ph.D. in physics from

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 ...

in 2001, after completing a doctoral dissertation, titled "Vortices,

quasiparticle In condensed matter physics, a quasiparticle is a concept used to describe a collective behavior of a group of particles that can be treated as if they were a single particle. Formally, quasiparticles and collective excitations are closely relate ...

s and unconventional

superconductivity Superconductivity is a set of physical properties observed in superconductors: materials where Electrical resistance and conductance, electrical resistance vanishes and Magnetic field, magnetic fields are expelled from the material. Unlike an ord ...

", under the supervision of F. Duncan Haldane. Between 2001 and 2004 he was a Pappalardo fellow at

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

, where his collaborators included T. Senthil and

Subir Sachdev Subir Sachdev is Herchel Smith Professor of physics at Harvard University specializing in condensed matter. He was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in 2014, received the Lars Onsager Prize from the American Physical Society and ...

. He joined the physics faculty at

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 2004 and moved to

in 2016. He held a Distinguished Visiting Research Chair at the

Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics (PI, Perimeter, PITP) is an independent research centre in foundational theoretical physics located in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. It was founded in 1999. The institute's founding and major benefactor i ...

from 2012 to 2015 and was awarded the

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

in materials science in 2014. He is one of the recipients of the 2016

EPS Europhysics Prize The EPS CMD Europhysics Prize is awarded since 1975 by the Condensed Matter Division of the European Physical Society, in recognition of recent work (completed in the 5 years preceding the attribution of the award) by one or more individuals, for s ...

in condensed matter physics for theoretical studies on magnetic skyrmion phases in MnSi, a new phase of matter. He is one of the recipients of the 2024 Oliver E. Buckley Prize for groundbreaking theoretical and experimental studies on the collective electronic properties of materials that reflect topological aspects of their band structure. He is also 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 ...

Research

Vishwanath has made important contributions to several areas in condensed matter physics. In particular, his most important contributions have been in deconfined quantum criticality (with T. Senthil,

Matthew P. A. Fisher Matthew P. A. Fisher is an American Theoretical physics, theoretical physicist and professor of physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and is known for several major contributions to condensed matter physics. He completed his bac ...

and

Leon Balents Leon, Léon (French) or León (Spanish) may refer to: Places Europe * León, Spain, capital city of the Province of León * Province of León, Spain * Kingdom of León, an independent state in the Iberian Peninsula from 910 to 1230 and again fro ...

), Dirac and

Weyl semimetal Weyl semimetals are semimetals or metals whose quasiparticle excitation is the Weyl fermion, a particle that played a crucial role in quantum field theory but has not been observed as a fundamental particle in vacuum. In these materials, electrons ...

s, iron-based

high-temperature superconductors High-temperature superconductivity (high-c or HTS) is superconductivity in materials with a critical temperature (the temperature below which the material behaves as a superconductor) above , the boiling point of liquid nitrogen. They are "high ...

, magnetic skyrmion phases, and

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 where, in particular and more recently, he has explored several aspects and field theories of symmetry protected topological phases and Floquet topological phases. He has also done important works on quantum magnetic systems and quantum entanglement properties of spin liquids and related topological orders.

References

External links

The Vishwanath Group at UC Berkeley homepage2014 interview with NatureJobs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vishwanath, Ashvin Living people University of California, Berkeley faculty IIT Kanpur alumni Simons Investigator 1973 births Fellows of the American Physical Society