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Sebastian Doniach (born 1934, in Paris, France) is a British-American physicist and professor at Stanford University. His research interests include theoretical condensed matter physics, superconductivity, and biophysics.
His mother was the distinguished clinical immunologist Deborah Doniach (1912-2004) and his father was Israel "Sonny" Doniach (1911-2001). Sebastian had one sibling, a sister Vera (1936-1958).
Sebastian and his first wife, Sarah Bridget Doniach (26 June 1932 – 18 September 2000) had several children. The couple relocated to Palo Alto, California, where Sarah Doniach died in 2000. He later remarried, to Jennifer Mallon.
Sebastian Doniach received a B.A. from Christ's College, Cambridge in 1954 and a Ph.D. from the University of Liverpool with Herbert Fröhlich in 1958.
His contributions to the field of condensed matter physics include the Lawrence-Doniach model of superconductivity and his book on Green's functions in solid state physics with E. H. Sondheimer . Sebastian Doniach is one of the pioneers of synchrotron X-ray sources and served as the first director of the Stanford Synchrotron. His research group at Stanford currently uses radiation from the Stanford Synchrotron and from the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory for studies of protein and RNA structure and dynamics.
Condensed matter physics is the field of physics that deals with the macroscopic and microscopic physical properties of matter, especially the solid and liquid phases which arise from electromagnetic forces between atoms. More generally, the subject deals with condensed phases of matter: systems of many constituents with strong interactions among them. More exotic condensed phases include the superconducting phase exhibited by certain materials at extremely low cryogenic temperature, the ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic phases of spins on crystal lattices of atoms, and the Bose–Einstein condensate found in ultracold atomic systems. Condensed matter physicists seek to understand the behavior of these phases by experiments to measure various material properties, and by applying the physical laws of quantum mechanics, electromagnetism, statistical mechanics, and other physics theories to develop mathematical models.
John Robert Schrieffer was an American physicist who, with John Bardeen and Leon Cooper, was a recipient of the 1972 Nobel Prize in Physics for developing the BCS theory, the first successful quantum theory of superconductivity.
Philip Warren Anderson was an American theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate. Anderson made contributions to the theories of localization, antiferromagnetism, symmetry breaking, and high-temperature superconductivity, and to the philosophy of science through his writings on emergent phenomena. Anderson is also responsible for naming the field of physics that is now known as condensed matter physics.
The Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource, a division of SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, is operated by Stanford University for the Department of Energy. SSRL is a National User Facility which provides synchrotron radiation, a name given to electromagnetic radiation in the x-ray, ultraviolet, visible and infrared realms produced by electrons circulating in a storage ring at nearly the speed of light. The extremely bright light that is produced can be used to investigate various forms of matter ranging from objects of atomic and molecular size to man-made materials with unusual properties. The obtained information and knowledge is of great value to society, with impact in areas such as the environment, future technologies, health, biology, basic research, and education.
Deborah Doniach MD FRCP was a British clinical immunologist and pioneer in the field of autoimmune diseases.
The Stanford Institute for Theoretical Physics (SITP) is a research institute within the Physics Department at Stanford University. Led by 16 physics faculty members, the institute conducts research in High Energy and Condensed Matter theoretical physics.
Alexander L. ("Sandy") Fetter is an American physicist and Professor Emeritus of Physics and Applied Physics at Stanford University in California. His research interests include theoretical condensed matter and superconductivity.
A particle accelerator is a machine that uses electromagnetic fields to propel charged particles to very high speeds and energies, and to contain them in well-defined beams.
The Nevill Mott Medal and Prize is an award presented in selected years by the Institute of Physics in the United Kingdom, for distinguished research in condensed matter or materials physics. It was first established in 1997 thanks to a donation from Sir Nevill Mott's family. Sir Nevill Mott was one of the outstanding British condensed matter theorists and won a Nobel Prize in Physics in 1977. He died in 1996. The award consists of a silver medal and a prize of £1000.
Piers Coleman is a British-born theoretical physicist, working in the field of theoretical condensed matter physics. Coleman is Professor of Physics at Rutgers University in New Jersey and at Royal Holloway, University of London.
Shoucheng Zhang was a Chinese-American physicist who was the JG Jackson and CJ Wood professor of physics at Stanford University. He was a condensed matter theorist known for his work on topological insulators, the quantum Hall effect, the quantum spin Hall effect, spintronics, and high-temperature superconductivity. According to the National Academy of Sciences:
He discovered a new state of matter called topological insulator in which electrons can conduct along the edge without dissipation, enabling a new generation of electronic devices with much lower power consumption. For this ground breaking work he received numerous international awards, including the Buckley Prize, the Dirac Medal and Prize, the Europhysics Prize, the Physics Frontiers Prize and the Benjamin Franklin Medal.
Andrew Peter Mackenzie is a director of Physics of Quantum Materials at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids in Dresden, Germany and Professor of Condensed Matter Physics at the University of St Andrews, Scotland. He became a co-editor of the Annual Review of Condensed Matter Physics as of 2020.
Evert Ingolf Lindau is a Swedish physicist and professor emeritus at Lund University and Stanford University and a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
Steven Allan Kivelson is an American theoretical physicist known for several major contributions to condensed matter physics. He is currently the Prabhu Goel Family Professor at Stanford University. Before joining Stanford in 2004, he was a professor of physics at the University of California at Los Angeles. He is a son of Margaret Kivelson, and his father, Daniel Kivelson, was a professor of chemistry in UCLA.
Eduardo Hector Fradkin is an Argentinian theoretical physicist known for working in various areas of condensed matter physics, primarily using quantum field theoretical approaches. He is a Donald Biggar Willett Professor of Physics at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, where he is the director of the Institute for Condensed Matter Theory, and is the author of the books Quantum Field Theory: An Integrated Approach and Field Theories of Condensed Matter Physics.
Suchitra Sebastian is a condensed matter physicist at Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge. She is known for her discoveries of exotic quantum phenomena that emerge in complex materials. In particular, she is known for the discovery of unconventional insulating materials which display simultaneous conduction-like behaviour. In 2022 she was awarded the New Horizons in Physics Prize by the Breakthrough Foundation. She was named as one of thirty Exceptional Young Scientists by the World Economic Forum in 2013, one of The Next Big Names in Physics by the Financial Times in 2013, and spoke at the World Economic Forum at Davos in 2016.
Mohit Randeria is a US-based Indian condensed matter physicist and a professor of physics at Ohio State University. Known for his research on condensed matter theory and superconductivity, Randeria is an elected fellow of the American Physics Society. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards, for his contributions to physical sciences in 2002. He was awarded the 2002 ICTP Prize of the International Center for Theoretical Physics, Trieste and the 2022 John Bardeen Prize.
Richard L. Greene is an American physicist. He is a distinguished university professor of Physics at the University of Maryland. He is known for his experimental research related to novel superconducting and magnetic materials.
John Louis Sarrao is an American physicist. He is the deputy director for science, technology, and engineering at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Allen Marshall Goldman is an American experimental condensed matter physicist, known for his research on electronic transport properties of superconductors and for the eponymous Carlson-Goldman mode involving collective oscillations in superconductors.