Jacob Klein (; born 1949) is the Herman Mark Professor of Soft Matter Physics at the

Weizmann Institute The Weizmann Institute of Science ( ''Machon Weizmann LeMada'') is a Public university, public research university in Rehovot, Israel, established in 1934, fourteen years before the State of Israel was founded. Unlike other List of Israeli uni ...

Rehovot Rehovot (, / ) is a city in the Central District (Israel), Central District of Israel, about south of Tel Aviv. In it had a population of . Etymology Israel Belkind, founder of the Bilu (movement), Bilu movement, proposed the name "Rehovot ...

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. He is well known for his work in soft condensed matter, polymer science and surface science.

Early life and career

Klein was born in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

, Israel and completed secondary school in England. Following the completion of military service in Israel in 1970, Klein returned to England and was an undergraduate and graduate student at

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

; his thesis was supervised by David Tabor. He held a research fellowship and later a

fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

ship at St. Catharine's College, Cambridge between 1976 and 1984. He held a postdoctoral fellowship at the Weizmann Institute's department of polymer research between 1977 and 1980, after which he worked jointly as university demonstrator with the Physics Department, Cambridge, and as a senior scientist at the Weizmann Institute. Klein was appointed an associate professor at the Weizmann Institute in 1984 and became a full

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

in 1987, heading the institute's polymer research department from 1989 to 1991. In October 2000 Klein left the Institute for a period, and was appointed as head of the Physical and Theoretical Chemistry Laboratory at Oxford. In 2007 he returned to the Weizmann Institute. He is a fellow of Exeter College. Klein has authored or co-authored more than 290 peer-reviewed publications, and served on the editorial boards of a number of scientific journals. During his career, Klein has held visiting faculty positions at

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 ...

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 ...

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne The École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (, EPFL) is a public university, public research university in Lausanne, Switzerland, founded in 1969 with the mission to "train talented engineers in Switzerland". Like its sister institution E ...

, École Superieure de Physique et Chimie Industrielle,

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 ...

Tsinghua University Tsinghua University (THU) is a public university in Haidian, Beijing, China. It is affiliated with and funded by the Ministry of Education of China. The university is part of Project 211, Project 985, and the Double First-Class Constructio ...

, and

Beihang University Beihang University (BUAA; formerly as Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics) is a public university in Haidian, Beijing, Haidian, Beijing, China. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. The univers ...

Honors and awards

He was a Dr. Lee's Professor of Chemistry at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

(2000-2007). Klein is a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (2001) and is also a

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 ...

(2003) and the

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 ...

(2004). Klein received the Polymer Physics Prize from the American Physical Society (1995), and the Royal Society's Soft Matter and Biophysical Chemistry Award (2011). He was awarded the Tribology Gold Medal from the

Institution of Mechanical Engineers The Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) is an independent professional association and learned society headquartered in London, United Kingdom, that represents mechanical engineers and the engineering profession. With over 110,000 member ...

(IMechE) in 2012. Other notable awards include the Liquid Matter Prize of the

European Physical Society The European Physical Society (EPS) is a non-profit organisation whose purpose is to promote physics and physicists in Europe through methods such as physics outreach, supporting physicists to engage in the design and implementation of European s ...

(2017), the

Rothschild Prize Yad Hanadiv (The Rothschild Foundation) is a Rothschild family philanthropic foundation in Israel. Goals and objectives Yad Hanadiv defines its mission as: Dedicated to creating resources for advancing Israel as a healthy, vibrant, democratic so ...

(2020), and the

Irving Langmuir Award The Irving Langmuir Prize in Chemical Physics is awarded annually, in even years by the American Chemical Society and in odd years by the American Physical Society. The award is meant to recognize and encourage outstanding interdisciplinary research ...

of the American Physical Society (2021).

References

External links

Research homepage

{{DEFAULTSORT:Klein, Jacob 1949 births Living people Alumni of St Catharine's College, Cambridge Fellows of St Catharine's College, Cambridge Fellows of Exeter College, Oxford Academic staff of Weizmann Institute of Science Dr Lee's Professors of Chemistry Fellows of the American Physical Society Tribologists