The 2014 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded jointly to Eric Betzig, AEP ’88, William E. Moerner, Physics ’82, and Stefan W. Hell “for the development of super-resolved fluorescence microscopy.” Both Betzig and Moerner received their M.S. and Ph.D from Cornell University. Moerner was a student of Professor Albert Sievers in the Laboratory of Atomic and Solid State Phyiscs (LASSP). Read the official Press Release here.
Check out the Chronicle article as well with more about their work at Cornell.
The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation has selected nineteen Moore Experimental Investigators in Quantum Materials, including J.C. Seamus Davis. Through grants to 11 universities around the United States, this five-year, $34.2M investigator program will allow outstanding physicists to pursue ambitious, high-risk research, including the development of new experimental techniques. Read more in the Moore Foundation press release.
Geoffrey V. Chester, professor emeritus of physics and dean emeritus of Cornell’s College of Arts and Sciences, died June 27 at age 86 in Ithaca. A professor at Cornell since 1964, he was an authority on liquid helium. His research group was one of the first to carry out simulations of a wide range of condensed-matter systems. Much of his work focused on the liquid and solid phases of helium three and four. In addition he was interested in classical and quantum spin systems, order and disorder in solids, two-dimensional melting and problems in materials science. “Geoffrey Chester’s work pioneered the use of computational methods to elucidate the nature of the ground state of helium,” said Jeevak Parpia, professor and chair of physics. “He also was a willing member of many experimental Ph.D. students’ special committees (including mine) and was known and sought after for his deep insight.” A campus memorial service for Arts and Sciences Dean Emeritus Geoffrey Chester will be held Saturday, September 20 at 2 p.m. in Anabel Taylor Chapel.
Jane Wang used simulations of fruit fly flight to uncover how fast they must sense and react to maintain balance.
Read more in the Chronicle.
Itai Cohen’s research into origami mechanics and reprogammable materials has led to articles this week in Science and the New York Times.
And check out this article in the Chronicle.
Séamus Davis's group have finally supplied the first experimental proof that magnetic interactions mediate Cooper pairs.
Check out the Chronicle for more information as well as the article in PNAS 2014.
