Symposium features Nobel Prize winners

Contact: Kevin Roark, camerahead@lanl.gov, (505) 665-0582 (01-110)

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LOS ALAMOS, N.M., Oct. 17, 2001 -- Condensed matter physics, superconductivity and high magnetic fields will be the subject matter of a symposium Friday, Oct. 19, 8 a.m.-6 p.m., at the Santa Fe Hilton. The symposium is in honor of Nobel laureate J. Robert Schrieffer, chief scientist at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Tallahassee, Florida.

In recognition of Schrieffer's 70th birthday, the NHMFL is holding this symposium to commemorate his life-long dedication to science and leadership and will feature many scientists, including four Nobel laureates, in the field of condensed matter physics in high magnetic fields and chemistry. The symposium will also mark the beginning of the Physical Phenomena at High Magnetic Fields-IV (PPHMF-IV) Conference hosted by the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory-Los Alamos, Oct. 20-25 at the Hilton and the Sweeney Convention Center.

Schrieffer was honored with a Nobel Prize in Physics in 1972 for his contribution to the Bardeen, Cooper and Schrieffer Theory of Superconductivity. The theory helped explain why electrons are able to pass through some substances without creating friction and thus without losing energy.

Much of Schrieffer's research involves superconductivity, strongly correlated electrons and the dynamics of electrons in strong magnetic fields. The symposium's featured scientists are distinguished contributors to these areas of physics and many will also participate in the PPHMF-IV Conference, which is sponsored by the State of Florida, the National Science Foundation, Lake Shore Cryotronics, Inc., Oxfordor Instruments, and the NHMFL, a research consortium of Los Alamos National Laboratory, Florida State University and the University of Florida. This conference will serve as an opportunity for scientists in the areas of condensed matter physics and high magnetic field research to share their research and discuss future scientific endeavors.

The PPHMF-IV conference will include posters and presentations about semiconductors, magnetic materials, superconductivity, organic solids, quantum hall effect, chemical and biological systems and the technological uses of magnetic fields.

Interested media are welcome to attend the symposium and conference. For more information contact Rebecca McIntosh, (505) 667-7654, mrebecca@lanl.gov.

Additional news releases from the Materials Science and Technology (MST) Division