| 1 | Name: | Dr. Bertrand I. Halperin | |
| Institution: | Harvard University | ||
| Year Elected: | 1990 | ||
| Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | ||
| Subdivision: | 106. Physics | ||
| Residency: | Resident | ||
| Living? : | Living | ||
| Birth Date: | 1941 | ||
Bertrand Halperin is a theoretical physicist of great distinction who has made fundamental contributions to almost every facet of present-day condensed matter physics. He received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley and is currently Hollis Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy at Harvard University. Dr. Halperin's research interests include many aspects of the theory of condensed matter systems and statistical physics. A major portion of his current research involves the theory of electron states and transport in small particles of a metal or semiconductor. Much of this work has been motivated by experiments carried out in various laboratories at Harvard. Dr. Halperin is Scientific Director of the Harvard Center for Imaging and Mesoscale Systems, which encourages interdisciplinary research and education in this area. Another major portion of Dr. Halperin's work concerns properties of two-dimensional electron systems at low temperatures in strong magnetic fields, or "quantum Hall systems". Experiments on these systems, since 1980, have revealed a succession of very surprising phenomena, which have required the introduction of a number of new theoretical methods for their explanation. Dr. Halperin has been involved in the development of several of these methods. A number of very puzzling experimental results still exist in this field, particularly in experiments involving bi-layer systems, which remain a challenge to theoretical understanding. Dr. Halperin's other current interests include superconductivity, transport in inhomogeneous systems, and nuclear magnetic resonance experiments in porous media. Previous research interests have included quantum antiferromagnets in one and two dimensions, low-temperature properties of glasses, melting and other phase transitions in two-dimensional systems, and the theory of dynamic phenomena near a phase transition. Before joining the Harvard faculty in 1969, Dr. Halperin worked as a member of the technical staff at Bell Laboratories and served as an NSF postdoctoral fellow at the University of Paris. Dr. Halperin is the recipient of the American Physical Society's 1982 Oliver E. Buckley Prize and its 2019 Medal for Exceptional Achievement. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Bertrand Halperin was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1990. | |||