David Morris Lee (born January 20, 1931) is an American physicist who shared the 1996

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 ...

with Robert C. Richardson and Douglas Osheroff "for their discovery of

superfluidity Superfluidity is the characteristic property of a fluid with zero viscosity which therefore flows without any loss of kinetic energy. When stirred, a superfluid forms vortices that continue to rotate indefinitely. Superfluidity occurs in two ...

helium-3 Helium-3 (3He see also helion) is a light, stable isotope of helium with two protons and one neutron. (In contrast, the most common isotope, helium-4, has two protons and two neutrons.) Helium-3 and hydrogen-1 are the only stable nuclides with ...

." Lee is professor emeritus of physics at

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

and distinguished professor of physics at

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

Personal life

Lee was born and raised in Rye, New York. including the Nobel Lecture, December 7, 1996 ''The Extraordinary Phases of Liquid ³He'' His parents, Annette (Franks), a teacher, and Marvin Lee, an electrical engineer, were children of

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 ...

immigrants from

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

. He graduated from

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 ...

in 1952 and then joined the U.S. Army for 22 months. After being discharged from the army, he obtained a master's degree from the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university system with its main campus in Storrs, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1881 as the Storrs Agricultural School, named after two benefactors. In 1893, ...

. In 1955 Lee entered the Ph.D. program at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

where he worked under Henry A. Fairbank in the low-temperature physics group, doing experimental research on liquid ³He. After graduating from Yale in 1959, Lee took a job at

, where he was responsible for setting up the new Laboratory of Atomic and Solid State Physics. Shortly after arriving at Cornell he met his future wife, Dana, then a PhD student in another department; the couple went on to have two sons. Lee moved his laboratory from Cornell to

on November 16, 2009.http://media.www.thebatt.com/media/storage/paper657/news/2009/10/01/News/Nobel.Prize.Winner.Joins.Am.Faculty-3788924.shtml

Work

The work that led to Lee's Nobel Prize was performed in the early 1970s. Lee, together with Robert C. Richardson and graduate student, Doug Osheroff used a Pomeranchuk cell to investigate the behaviour of ³He at temperatures within a few thousandths of a degree of absolute zero. They discovered unexpected effects in their measurements, which they eventually explained as phase transitions to a superfluid phase of ³He. Lee, Richardson and Osheroff were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1996 for this discovery. Lee's research also covered a number of other topics in low-temperature physics, particularly relating to liquid, solid and superfluid helium (⁴He, ³He and mixtures of the two). Particular discoveries include the antiferromagnetic ordering in solid helium-3,

nuclear spin Nuclear may refer to: Physics Relating to the nucleus of the atom: * Nuclear engineering * Nuclear physics * Nuclear power * Nuclear reactor * Nuclear weapon * Nuclear medicine *Radiation therapy *Nuclear warfare Mathematics * Nuclear space * ...

waves in spin polarized atomic hydrogen gas with Jack H. Freed, and the tri-critical point on the phase separation curve of liquid ⁴He-³He, in collaboration with his Cornell colleague John Reppy. His former research group at Cornell currently studies impurity-helium solids. As well as the Nobel Prize, other prizes won by Lee include the 1976 Sir Francis Simon Memorial Prize of the British

Institute of Physics The Institute of Physics (IOP) is a UK-based not-for-profit learned society and professional body that works to advance physics education, physics research, research and applied physics, application. It was founded in 1874 and has a worldwide ...

and the 1981 Oliver 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 ...

along with Doug Osheroff and Robert Richardson for their superfluid ³He work. In 1997, Lee received the 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 ...

. Lee is a member of the

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 ...

and 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 ...

. Lee is currently teaching physics at

and continuing his (formerly Cornell-based) research program there as well. Lee is one of the 20 American recipients of the Nobel Prize in Physics to sign a letter addressed to President

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

in May of 2008, urging him to "reverse the damage done to basic science research in the Fiscal Year 2008 Omnibus Appropriations Bill" by requesting additional emergency funding for the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, the

National Science Foundation The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an Independent agencies of the United States government#Examples of independent agencies, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that su ...

, and the

National Institute of Standards and Technology The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce whose mission is to promote American innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST's activities are organized into Outline of p ...

References

External links

Faculty page at Cornell
* including the Nobel Lecture, December 7, 1996 ''The Extraordinary Phases of Liquid ³He'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, David 1931 births Living people Nobel laureates in Physics American Nobel laureates American people of British-Jewish descent American people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent Jewish American physicists Harvard University alumni University of Connecticut alumni Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Cornell University faculty Cornell Laboratory of Atomic and Solid State Physics 21st-century American physicists University of Florida faculty People from Rye, New York Texas A&M University faculty Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Foreign members of the Russian Academy of Sciences Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Prize winners Scientists from New York (state) Fellows of the American Physical Society

Personal life

Work

See also

References

External links