Richard A. Webb (10 September 1946 – 23 January 2016) was an experimental solid-state physicist who is particularly noted for his work on the electronic properties of
mesoscopic systems.
Life
Richard Webb received his BSc degree from UC Berkeley (1968) and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from UC San Diego (1970 and 1973). Between 1978 and 1993 he was researcher at the IBM
Thomas J. Watson Research Center
The Thomas J. Watson Research Center is the headquarters for IBM Research. Its main laboratory is in Yorktown Heights, New York, 38 miles (61 km) north of New York City. It also operates facilities in Cambridge, Massachusetts and Albany, ...
. From 1993 to 2004 he was a professor at the
University of Maryland, College Park
The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD i ...
, where he worked at the Center for Superconductivity Research. Starting 2004, he was a professor at the
University of South Carolina
The University of South Carolina (USC, SC, or Carolina) is a Public university, public research university in Columbia, South Carolina, United States. Founded in 1801 as South Carolina College, It is the flagship of the University of South Car ...
.
Research
Main research activity of Richard Webb was the experimental study of the electronic properties of
mesoscopic systems, i.e. structures with spatial dimensions that are similar to fundamental physical length scales for the electrons in the materials, such as the coherence length or the Fermi wavelength. One particularly important result was the observation of
Aharonov–Bohm oscillations in metallic rings.
Awards and Distinctions
* 1985
APS Fellow
* 1989
Simon Memorial Prize
The Simon Memorial Prize is an award that honors 'distinguished work in experimental or theoretical low temperature physics'. The prize is awarded by the Institute of Physics and is presented at the International Conference on Low Temperature Physi ...
* 1992
Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Prize
The Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Prize is an annual award given by the American Physical Society "to recognize and encourage outstanding theoretical or experimental contributions to condensed matter physics." It was endowed by AT&T Bell Labor ...
of the American Physical Society
* 1996 Member of the National Academy of Sciences
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Webb, Richard A.
1946 births
Living people
American physicists
Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Prize winners
University of Maryland, College Park faculty
Fellows of the American Physical Society