• Research News

    New Laser Experiment Spins Light Like a Merry-go-round

    In day-to-day life, light seems intangible. We walk through it and create and extinguish it with the flip of a switch. But, like matter, light actually carries a little punch—it has momentum. Light constantly nudges things and can even be used to push spacecraft. Read More
  • Research News

    The Many Wonders of Uranium Ditelluride

    In the menagerie of exotic materials, superconductors boast their own vibrant ecosystem. All superconductors allow electricity to flow without any resistance. It’s their hallmark feature. But in many cases, that’s where the similarities end. Some superconductors, like aluminum, are conventional—run-of-the-mill, bread-and-butter materials that are Read More
  • Research News

    Simulations of ‘Backwards Time Travel’ Can Improve Scientific Experiments

    If gamblers, investors and quantum experimentalists could bend the arrow of time, their advantage would be significantly higher, leading to significantly better outcomes. Adjunct Assistant Professor and JQI affiliate Nicole Yunger Halpern and her colleagues at the University of Cambridge have shown that by Read More
  • Research News

    Embracing Uncertainty Helps Bring Order to Quantum Chaos

    In physics, chaos is something unpredictable. A butterfly flapping its wings somewhere in Guatemala might seem insignificant, but those flits and flutters might be the ultimate cause of a hurricane over the Indian Ocean. The butterfly effect captures what it means for something to Read More
  • Research News

    Advocating for Quantum Simulation of Extreme Physics

    The Big Bang, supernovae, collisions of nuclei at breakneck speeds—our universe is filled with extreme phenomena, both natural and human-made. But the surprising thing is that all of these seemingly distinct processes are governed by the same underlying physics: a combination of quantum mechanics Read More
  • Research News

    Novel Quantum Speed Limits Tackle Messy Reality of Disorder

    The researchers and engineers studying quantum technologies are exploring uncharted territory. Due to the unintuitive quirks of quantum physics, the terrain isn’t easy to scout, and the path of progress has been littered with wrong turns and dead ends. Sometimes, though, theorists have streamlined Read More
  • Research News

    UMD Researchers Study the Intricate Processes Underpinning Gene Expression

    A new study led by University of Maryland physicists sheds light on the cellular processes that regulate genes. Published in the journal Science Advances, the paper explains how the dynamics of a polymer called chromatin—the structure into which DNA is packaged—regulate gene expression. Through Read More
  • Research News

    UMD Scientists Help Discover the Highest-Energy Light Coming from the Sun

    Sometimes, the best place to hide a secret is in broad daylight. Just ask the sun. A new paper in Physical Review Letters details the discovery of the highest-energy light ever observed from the sun. The international team behind the discovery also found that Read More
  • Research News

    Crystal Imperfections Reveal Rich New Phases of Familiar Matter

    Matter—all the stuff we see around us—can be classified into familiar phases: our chairs are solid, our coffee is liquid, and the oxygen we breathe is a gas. This grouping obscures the nitty gritty details of what each molecule or atom is up to Read More
  • 1 New Laser Experiment Spins Light Like a Merry-go-round
  • 2 The Many Wonders of Uranium Ditelluride
  • 3 Simulations of ‘Backwards Time Travel’ Can Improve Scientific Experiments
  • 4 Embracing Uncertainty Helps Bring Order to Quantum Chaos
  • 5 Advocating for Quantum Simulation of Extreme Physics
  • 6 Novel Quantum Speed Limits Tackle Messy Reality of Disorder
  • 7 UMD Researchers Study the Intricate Processes Underpinning Gene Expression
  • 8 UMD Scientists Help Discover the Highest-Energy Light Coming from the Sun
  • 9 Crystal Imperfections Reveal Rich New Phases of Familiar Matter
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Department News

  • Mar 21, 2024 Sullivan Named Distinguished Scholar-Teacher Professor Greg Sullivan has been named a University of Maryland Distinguished Scholar-Teacher. The Distinguished Scholar-Teacher Program, established in 1978, honors a small number of faculty members each year who have demonstrated notable success in both scholarship and teaching. Sullivan received his Ph.D. from the University of Read More
  • Feb 20, 2024 Philippov Awarded Sloan Research Fellowship Assistant Professor Sasha Philippov is one of 126 scientists in the United States and Canada to receive a 2024 Sloan Research Fellowship. Granted by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the $75,000 award recognizes scientists who have made important research contributions and have demonstrated “the potential to Read More
  • Feb 28, 2024 ‘Not Alone’: Mental Health Task Force Analyzes Well-Being of UMD Physics Graduate Students  Grad school should challenge students’ minds but not their mental health, according to physics graduate students at the University of Maryland who are using scientific principles to understand their peers’ perspectives.Formed in 2016, the Department of Physics’ Graduate Student Mental Health Task Force (MHTF) is Read More
  • Feb 26, 2024 Aaron Sternbach Combines Light and Matter to Push Experimental Boundaries Aaron Sternbach, a new assistant professor in the Department of Physics at the University of Maryland, is an expert in combining light and material properties to produce unique results. His experiments have allowed him to spy on elusive quantum interactions that play out on extremely Read More
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Upcoming Events

29 Mar
Friday Quantum Seminar: Gautam Nambiar
Date Fri, Mar 29, 2024 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
29 Mar
HEP / Particle Astro seminar
Fri, Mar 29, 2024 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm
1 Apr
JQI Seminar: William Oliver
Mon, Apr 1, 2024 11:00 am - 12:00 pm
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Mon, Apr 1, 2024 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
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EPT Seminar
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1 Apr
PHYS838C Seminar: Gicela Saucedo Salas
Mon, Apr 1, 2024 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
1 Apr
RIT in Quantum Information Science
Mon, Apr 1, 2024 4:05 pm - 5:05 pm
2 Apr
CMTC JLDS Seminar
Tue, Apr 2, 2024 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
2 Apr
Physics colloquium
Tue, Apr 2, 2024 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm

Nobelist Walter Kohn to Receive 2010 Prange Prize

Condensed Matter Theory Lecture Set for Oct. 19 at UMD

Nobel laureate Walter Kohn, who invented the density-functional theory of matter, has been named the 2010 recipient of the Richard E. Prange Prize and Lectureship in Condensed Matter Theory and Related Areas. Kohn will receive a $10,000 honorarium and deliver a public presentation at the University of Maryland, College Park, on Oct. 19, 2010.  Kohn’s work on the density-functional theory has had transformative impact on physics, chemistry, engineering, and medicine.

The award, established by the UMD Department of Physics and Condensed Matter Theory Center (CMTC), honors the late Professor Richard Prange, whose distinguished career at Maryland spanned four decades (1961-2000). The Prange Prize is made possible by a gift from Dr. Prange's wife, Dr. Madeleine Joullié of the University of Pennsylvania.

After receiving a Ph.D. in theoretical physics from Harvard University, Kohn embarked on a career that included work at Bell Telephone Laboratories with William Shockley, whose group invented the transistor.  In 1979 Kohn was appointed founding director of the National Science Foundation’s Institute of Theoretical Physics at the University of California in Santa Barbara. He has received the United States National Medal of Science, the UNESCO/ Niels Bohr Gold Medal and, for his role in creating the most widely used theory of the electronic structure of matter, the 1998 Nobel Prize in chemistry. His documentary on solar power, “The Power of the Sun”, has received world-wide distribution in 10 languages. He is currently Professor of Physics, Emeritus and Research Professor at UCSB.

Kohn’s Prange lecture, titled “A World Powered Predominantly by Solar and Wind Energy," will be delivered at the University of Maryland's John S. Toll Physics Building at 4:00 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, Oct. 19 in the Physics Lecture Hall, Room 1412. The event is open to the public.

Dr. Richard Prange did his graduate studies at the University of Chicago, where he worked with Nobelist Yoichiro Nambu, among others. Prange was the editor of a widely known book on the quantum Hall effect, but his interests reached well beyond condensed matter, extending into every substantive aspect of theoretical physics including seminal work on quantum chaos. He was at complete ease discussing subjects as disparate as ferromagnetism and the cosmological constant. His interests also included history and travel.

At the University of Maryland, he played a vital role in the life of the Physics Department, leading a substantial reform of its undergraduate major program and serving as chair of crucial departmental committees.

"Richard enjoyed a fascinating and fulfilling career at the University of Maryland exploring condensed matter physics, and even after retirement was active in the department," said Dr. Joullié. "He spent the very last afternoon of his life in the lecture hall for a colloquium on graphene, followed by a vigorous discussion. And so I was happy to institute the Prange Prize, to generate its own robust discussions in condensed matter theory. Walter Kohn is an ideal recipient."

Dr. Prange was a member of the Maryland condensed matter theory group for more than 40 years and was an affiliate of CMTC since its inception in 2002.

"The Prange Prize provides a unique opportunity to acknowledge transformative work in condensed-matter theory, a field that has proven to be an inexhaustible source of insights and discoveries in both fundamental and applied physics," said Dr. Sankar Das Sarma, who holds the Richard E. Prange Chair in Physics at UMD and is also a Distinguished University Professor and Director of the CMTC.

The prize was inaugurated in 2009, with a lecture by Nobel Laureate Philip W. Anderson.

More Information


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Directions to the College Park campus are available at: http://www.cvs.umd.edu/visitors/maps.html
To locate the Physics Building, see the campus map at: http://www.cvs.umd.edu/downloads/campus%20map%20012309.pdf
University of Maryland Physics: http://umdphysics.umd.edu/
College of Computer, Mathematical and Physical Sciences: http://www.cmps.umd.edu/
Condensed Matter Theory Center: http://www.physics.umd.edu/cmtc/