Steven Leslie Richardson (born July 22, 1953) is an American physicist and professor of electrical engineering. He is currently a professor emeritus at

Howard University Howard University is a private, historically black, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" and accredited by the Mid ...

, a co-principal investigator in 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 ...

Science and Technology Center for Integrated Quantum Materials, and a Faculty Associate in Applied Physics in the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University. He is recognized for his research contributions to computational materials science and computational chemistry.

Early life and education

Steven Leslie Richardson was born on July 22, 1953, in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, to Edward Alfred Richardson and Juanita Pearl Richardson. One of five children, he grew up in the Brevoort Houses. Edward Richardson was a subway conductor and Juanita Richardson was a nurse. He attended Brooklyn Preparatory High School for his secondary education. He attended

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

as a National Achievement Scholar studying chemistry. Richardson subsequently earned a master's degree in 1981 and a Ph.D. in 1983 from the

Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

, both degrees in theoretical condensed matter physics. Richardson transferred to Ohio State from the

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

with his graduate advisor, Bruce Patton. Evelynn Hammonds,

Sylvester James Gates Sylvester James Gates Jr. (born December 15, 1950), known as S. James Gates Jr. or Jim Gates, is an American theoretical physicist who works on supersymmetry, supergravity, and superstring theory. He is currently the Toll Professor of Physics at ...

and Reynold Verret were fellow students of Richardson's at MIT, and while there,

Shirley Ann Jackson Shirley Ann Jackson, (born August 5, 1946) is an American physicist, and was the 18th president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. She is the first African American woman to have earned a doctorate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology ...

encouraged him to switch his concentration to condensed matter physics.Richardson, Steven. Curriculum Vitae. Box 1, folder 45. Ronald E. Mickens collection on African-American physicists, circa 1950–2008. Niels Bohr Library & Archives, American Institute of Physics. 12 March 2023. https://libserv.aip.org/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=O67863697N88V.2444105&menu=search&aspect=power&npp=10&ipp=20&spp=20&profile=rev-all&ri=3&source=%7E%21horizon&index=.GW&term=%22harold+ralph+lewis%22&x=0&y=0&aspect=power During his doctoral studies, Richardson held a position as an

IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...

Minority Graduate Fellow and a

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Graduate Fellow. While working at

, he and his advisor, Charles B. Duke, discovered a new reconstructed semiconductor surface GaAs(110) for GaAs.

Career

Following his doctoral studies, Richardson completed a Chancellor's Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellowship at the

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 ...

, and was also a

Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a $25,000 (about $550,000 in 2023) gift from Edsel Ford. ...

Postdoctoral Fellow at

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL, Berkeley Lab) is a Federally funded research and development centers, federally funded research and development center in the Berkeley Hills, hills of Berkeley, California, United States. Established i ...

. At

UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkele ...

he worked under

Marvin L. Cohen Marvin Lou Cohen (born March 3, 1935) is an American–Canadian theoretical physicist. He is a physics professor at the University of California, Berkeley. Cohen is a leading expert in the field of condensed matter physics. He is widely known for ...

. From 1986 to 1988, he was a program director for the Condensed Matter Theory Program of the

and as a senior research scientist at the

Eastman Kodak Company The Eastman Kodak Company, referred to simply as Kodak (), is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in film photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorporated i ...

. He then joined the faculty of

, serving as the associate director of the Materials Research Center for Excellence from 1989 to 1994. Concurrently, between 1989 and 1995 he was also an associate professor of electrical engineering at Howard. In 1995 he was promoted to full professor. Richardson has also served as a visiting professor and a visiting scientist at numerous universities throughout his career, including

Iowa State University Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricult ...

;

Bradley University Bradley University is a private university in Peoria, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1897, Bradley University enrolls 5,200 students who are pursuing degrees in more than 100 undergraduate programs and more than 30 graduate programs in fiv ...

; the

Instituto Superior Técnico The Instituto Superior Técnico (IST, also known as Técnico, and stylized TÉCNICO LISBOA; English: ) is the school of engineering and technology of the University of Lisbon. It was founded as an autonomous school in 1911, and was integrated in ...

Lisbon, Portugal Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

;

Emory University Emory University is a private university, private research university in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It was founded in 1836 as Emory College by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory. Its main campu ...

; and the Center for Computational Materials Science at the

U.S. Naval Research Laboratory The United States Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) is the corporate research laboratory for the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps. Located in Washington, DC, it was founded in 1923 and conducts basic scientific research, appl ...

. He was the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Visiting Professor of Chemistry at the

from 2016 to 2017. He has been a member of numerous professional organizations including 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 ...

American Chemical Society The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a scientific society based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has more than 155,000 members at all ...

and 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 ...

Awards

* Career Advancement Award by the

(1992) *

Faculty Senate Award for Exemplary Teaching (2013) * Fellow of the

(2022) * Sigma Xi Distinguished Lecturer (2022–2024)

Research

Richardson's research has centered around computational materials science and computational chemistry, including the use of supercomputers to calculate the structural, electronic and vibrational properties of molecules. His work has been supported by funding from institutions including the

Office of Naval Research The Office of Naval Research (ONR) is an organization within the United States Department of the Navy responsible for the science and technology programs of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. Established by Congress in 1946, its mission is to plan ...

U.S. Department of Energy The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government that oversees U.S. national energy policy and energy production, the research and development of nuclear power, the military's nuclear we ...

, W. M. Keck Foundation, Boeing Corporation, and the

References

External links

* Video
Using Vector Calculus to Solve Problems in Electricity and Magnetism, Steven L. Richardson, Lec. 4
{{DEFAULTSORT:Richardson, Steven American physicists American electrical engineers 1953 births Living people African-American physicists Howard University faculty Ohio State University alumni