Robert B. Laughlin

Biography

Abstract

Robert Laughlin is the Anne Bass and Robert M. Bass Professor of Physics at Stanford University. His other institutional affiliations include Bell Laboratories, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and the Korean Advanced Institute for Science and Technology. He won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1998 along with Daniel Tsui and Horst Störmer.

Important Dates

November 1, 1950Birth, Visalia (Calif.).

1972Obtained AB, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley (Calif.).

1972 – 1974Soldier, United States Army.

1979Obtained PhD in Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge (Mass.).

1979 – 1981Postdoctoral Member, Technical Staff, Bell Telephone Laboratories.

1982 – 2004Research Physicist, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore (Calif.).

1985 – presentAssociate Professor of Physics (1985-1989); Professor of Physics (1989-1993); and Anne Bass and Robert M. Bass Professor of Physics (1992-present), Stanford University, Stanford (Calif.).

1986Awarded Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Prize, American Physical Society.

1990Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

1994Member, National Academy of Sciences.

1998Awarded Nobel Prize in Physics with Horst Störmer and Daniel Tsui "for their discovery of a new form of quantum fluid with fractionally charged excitations".

2004 – 2006President, Korean Advanced Institute for Science and Technology (Hanʼguk Kwahagwŏn).

Occupation

Condensed matter physicist.

Places

Birth

Visalia (Calif.)

Undergraduate Education

Berkeley (Calif.)

Graduate Education

Cambridge (Mass.)

Employment

Livermore (Calif.)

Stanford (Calif.)

Subjects

Antiferromagnetism.

Condensed matter.

Fusion.

Nuclear physics.

Quantum Hall effect.

Semiconductors.

Relationships

People

Family

Laughlin, Anita

Wife.

Laughlin, Margaret

Sister.

Laughlin, Todd

Son.

Advisors & Collaborators

Joannopoulos, J. D. (John D.), 1947-

PhD advisor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, "The structure and excitations of amorphous solids and surfaces."

Störmer, Horst

Discovered a new form of quantum fluid with fractionally charged excitations and shared the 1998 Nobel Prize in Physics with Daniel Tsui "for their discovery of a new form of quantum fluid with fractionally charged excitations". Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Tsui, D. C. (Daniel Chee), 1939-

Discovered a new form of quantum fluid with fractionally charged excitations and shared the 1998 Nobel Prize for Physics with Horst Stormer "for their discovery of a new form of quantum fluid with fractionally charged excitations". Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Colleagues

Ahlers, G. (Günter)

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Alder, B. J.

Both employed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Anastasio, Michael R.

Both employed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Anderson, John D., 1930-

Both employed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Anderson, P. W. (Philip W.), 1923-

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Appelbaum, J. A. (Joel A.)

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Ashkin, Arthur, 1922-

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Aspnes, D. E.

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Bardeen, William A.

Both employed at Stanford University.

Batzel, Roger Elwood

Both employed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Beasley, Malcolm

Both employed at Stanford University.

Bishop, David John, 1951-

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Bjorken, James D.

Both employed at Stanford University.

Boyle, Willard S., 1924-2011

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Brinkman, William F. (William Frank), 1938-

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories and Stanford University.

Buchsbaum, Solomon J.

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Bucksbaum, Philip H.

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories and Stanford University.

Burchat, P. (Patricia)

Both employed at Stanford University.

Cabrera, Blas

Both employed at Stanford University.

Cava, Robert J.

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Ceperley, David

Both employed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Chabal, Yves Jean, 1952-

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Chemla, D. S.

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Chu, Steven

Both employed at Stanford University.

Chynoweth, A. G.

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Clauser, John F. (John Francis), 1942-

Both employed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Clogston, Albert McCavour

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Cutler, Cassius Chapin

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

DiSalvo, Francis

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Dynes, Robert C.

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Edwards, David F. (David Franklin)

Both employed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Fairbank, William Martin, 1917-1989

Both employed at Stanford University.

Fetter, Alexander L., 1937-

Both employed at Stanford University.

Fleury, Paul A.

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Fulton, Theodore Alan

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Gossard, A. C.

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Hamann, Donald, 1939-

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Hänsch, T. W. (Theo W.), 1941-

Both employed at Stanford University.

Hofstadter, Robert, 1915-1990

Both employed at Stanford University.

Hohenberg, Pierre C.

Both employed at Bell Laboratories.

Jackson, Shirley Ann, 1946-

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Johnson, Peter D., 1952-

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Kahn, Steven Michael

Both employed at Stanford University.

Kirkpatrick, Paul

Both employed at Stanford University.

Kivelson, Steven

Both employed at Stanford University.

Kruer, William L.

Both employed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Lee, P. A. (Patrick A.), 1946-

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Linde, A. D.

Both employed at Stanford University.

Lindl, John

Both employed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Matthias, Bernd T., 1918-1980

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

May, Michael M., 1925-

Both employed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Stanford University.

Meyerhof, Walter E. (Walter Ernst), 1922-

Both employed at Stanford University.

Miller, George H. (physicist)

Both employed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Murray, Cherry Ann

Both employed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Nelson, Ann E. (Ann Elizabeth)

Both employed at Stanford University.

Nuckolls, John Hopkin

Both employed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Osheroff, Douglas D.

Both employed at Stanford University and Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Patel, C. Kumar N.

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Penzias, Arno A.

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Pfann, William G.

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Phillips, J. C.

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Phillips, Julia M.

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Pinczuk, Aron

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Post, Richard F.

Both employed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Raghavachari, Krishnan

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Rice, Thomas Maurice, 1939-

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Riess, Adam, 1969-

Both employed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Schawlow, Arthur L., 1921-1999

Both employed at Stanford University.

Shank, C. V. (Charles V.)

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Smith, George E., 1930-

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Smith, Neville, 1942-2006

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Stillinger, F. H.

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Susskind, Leonard

Both employed at Stanford University.

Tarter, C. Bruce

Both employed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Thomas, D. G. (David Gilbert), 1928-

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Weeks, John David

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Wieman, C. E. (Carl Edwin)

Both employed at Stanford University.

Wilson, Robert Woodrow, 1936-

Both employed at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Wojcicki, Stanley G., 1937-

Both employed at Stanford University.

Additional

Walecka, John Dirk, 1932-

Both employed at Stanford University.

Institutions

Major Positions

Bell Telephone Laboratories

Postdoctoral Member, Technical Staff.

Han'guk Kwahagwŏn

President.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Research Physicist.

Stanford University. Department of Physics

Associate Professor of Physics; Professor of Physics; and Anne Bass and Robert M. Bass Professor of Physics.

United States. Army

Soldier.

Professional Activities & Affiliations

American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Fellow.

American Association for the Advancement of Science

American Physical Society

Received 1986 Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Prize.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics

Obtained PhD in 1979.

National Academy of Sciences (U.S.)

Member.

University of California, Berkeley. Department of Physics

Obtained AB in 1972.

Resources

Archival Resources

Author

Science and the ultimate reality [computer file] : celebrating the vision of John Archibald Wheeler and taking it forward into a new center of discovery / 2002 March 15-18.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Subject

Nobel Voices Videohistory Project collection, 2000-2001.

National Museum of American History. Archives Center

Smithsonian Institution

MRC 601, 12th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20560, USA

Published Resources

Author

A different universe : reinventing physics from the bottom down / Robert B. Laughlin.

Nobel Prize Autobiography.

The crime of reason : and the closing of the scientific mind / Robert B. Laughlin.