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Bertrand Halperin

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Bert Halperin
Born (1941-12-06) December 6, 1941 (age 83)
Brooklyn, New York City, U.S.
Alma materHarvard University (BA)
University of California, Berkeley (PhD)
Known forHexatic phase
Quantum Hall effect
KTHNY theory
AwardsOliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Prize (1982)
Lars Onsager Prize (2001)
Wolf Prize in Physics (2003)
APS Medal (2019)
Scientific career
FieldsPhysics
InstitutionsHarvard University
Doctoral advisorJohn J. Hopfield
Doctoral studentsCatherine Kallin

Bertrand I. Halperin (born December 6, 1941) is an American physicist, former holder of the Hollis Chair of Mathematicks and Natural Philosophy at the physics department of Harvard University.[1] In 2006, he received the Wolf Prize in Physics for his various contribution to condensed matter physics, including work on KTHNY theory for two-dimensional melting.

Career

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Halperin was born in Brooklyn, New York, where he grew up in the Crown Heights neighborhood and attended public schools. His mother was Eva Teplitzky Halperin and his father Morris Halperin. His mother was a college administrator and his father a customs inspector.[2] Both his parents were born in USSR. His paternal grandmother's family the Maximovs claimed descent from Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov (BeShT).[citation needed]

He attended Harvard University (class of 1961),[2] and did his graduate work at the University of California, Berkeley, with John J. Hopfield (PhD 1965).[1]

After working at Bell Laboratories for 10 years (1966–1976), Murray Hill, New Jersey he was appointed professor of physics at Harvard University.

Work

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In the 1970s, he, together with David Robert Nelson, worked out a theory of two-dimensional melting, predicting the hexatic phase before it was experimentally observed by Pindak et al. In the 1980s, he made contributions to the theory of the quantum Hall effect and of the fractional quantum Hall effect. His recent interests lie in the area of strongly interacting low-dimensional electron systems.[3]

Honors and awards

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Halperin was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 1972,[4] a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1981,[5] a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 1982,[6] and a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1990.[7] In 2001, he was awarded the Lars Onsager Prize.[8] In 2003, he was awarded the Wolf Prize in physics for his work on "two- dimensional melting, disordered systems and strongly interacting electrons", the other half went to Anthony James Leggett.[9] In 2016 he was Lise Meitner Distinguished Lecturer.[10]

In 2018, he was awarded the 2019 APS Medal for Exceptional Achievement in Research,[3] for "his seminal contributions to theoretical condensed matter physics, especially his pioneering work on the role of topology in both classical and quantum systems."[11]

Selected bibliography

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  • Halperin, Bertrand I.; Anderson, Philip W.; Varma, Chandra M. (January 1972). "Anomalous low-temperature thermal properties of glasses and spin glasses". Philosophical Magazine. 25 (1): 1–9. Bibcode:1972PMag...25....1A. doi:10.1080/14786437208229210. Pdf.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Halperin, Bertrand I." American Institute of Physics. Retrieved January 7, 2019.
  2. ^ a b Halperin, Bertrand I. (10 March 2021). "A Career in Physics". Annual Review of Condensed Matter Physics. 12 (1): 15–28. Bibcode:2021ARCMP..12...15H. doi:10.1146/annurev-conmatphys-060120-092219. ISSN 1947-5454. S2CID 228892037.
  3. ^ a b "2019 APS Medal for Exceptional Achievement in Research Awarded to Bertrand I. Halperin". APS News. 2018. Retrieved January 7, 2019. Among his many honors, Halperin is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Philosophical Society, and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In addition to his APS awards, he received the Dannie Heineman Prize of the Göttingen Akademie der Wissenschaften, the Lars Onsager Lecture and Medal of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, an honorary doctorate from the Weizmann Institute of Science, the Lise Meitner Lecture and Medal, and the Wolf Prize in Physics.
  4. ^ "APS Fellows Archive". APS. Retrieved 4 October 2020.
  5. ^ "Bertrand Israel Halperin". American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Retrieved 2022-04-19.
  6. ^ "Bertrand Halperin". NAS Member Directory. Retrieved January 7, 2019.
  7. ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 2022-04-19.
  8. ^ "2001 Lars Onsager Prize Recipient". APS Physics. Retrieved January 7, 2019. For his wide-ranging contributions to statistical physics and quantum fluids, especially the elucidation of the quantum Hall effect and other low-dimensional electronic phenomena; and for his exemplary leadership in bringing theory to bear on the understanding of experiments.
  9. ^ Sa'ar, Relly (January 15, 2003). "Multinational Winners of Wolf Prizes for Mathematics, Physics and Agriculture". Haaretz. Retrieved January 7, 2019. This year's Wolf Prize for physics will be awarded to Professor Bertrand Halperin of Harvard University and Professor Anthony Leggett of Illinois University. The jury said the prize was in recognition of the researchers' contribution to the field of condensed matter theory. Halperin, 61, is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and has been a professor at Harvard since 1976.
  10. ^ "LiseMeitnerLecture". Archived from the original on 2016-06-11. Retrieved 2019-06-19.
  11. ^ "2019 APS Medal for Exceptional Achievement in Research Recipient: Bertrand I. Halperin"
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Academic offices
Preceded by Hollis Chair of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy
1992–present 		Succeeded by
current incumbent
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