Robert Schrieffer
Who was Robert Schrieffer?
Nobel laureate: Nobel Prize in Physics (1972)
Biographical data adapted from Wikipedia’s article on Robert Schrieffer (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Biography
John Robert Schrieffer was born on May 31, 1931, in Oak Park, Illinois. He did his undergraduate studies at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and then went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for graduate school. During his time at MIT, he worked with John Bardeen and Leon Cooper to develop what came to be known as the BCS theory of superconductivity.
The BCS theory, named for Bardeen, Cooper, and Schrieffer, was the first to successfully use quantum mechanics to explain superconductivity. It described how electrons form Cooper pairs at low temperatures, enabling electrical current to flow without resistance. This theory solved a long-standing mystery in physics and helped us understand one of nature's most intriguing phenomena.
Schrieffer's impact on physics went beyond his Nobel Prize-winning work. Throughout his career, he researched various areas of condensed matter physics and quantum field theory. He received several prestigious awards, including the Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Prize and the Comstock Prize in Physics, both in 1968. In 1966, he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship and was later honored with the National Medal of Science in 1983.
Schrieffer was actively involved in research and education throughout his scientific career. He was elected as a Fellow of the American Physical Society, showing his peers' recognition of his major contributions to the field. His work heavily influenced future physicists in condensed matter physics and related areas.
Schrieffer passed away on July 27, 2019, in Tallahassee, Florida. His death marked the end of a remarkable career that lasted several decades and left a lasting impact on theoretical physics. The BCS theory remains one of the major advances in twentieth-century physics, continuing to inform research in superconductivity and quantum many-body systems.
Before Fame
Schrieffer's rise to scientific fame started during his graduate studies at MIT in the 1950s. Superconductivity had confused physicists since its discovery in 1911, when Heike Kamerlingh Onnes found that mercury's electrical resistance completely disappeared at very low temperatures. Even after many efforts, no good theoretical explanation existed for this phenomenon.
The breakthrough happened when Schrieffer joined John Bardeen's research group after Bardeen moved to the University of Illinois. Working with Leon Cooper, who had discovered that electrons could pair up in a superconducting material, Schrieffer developed the mathematical framework to complete their groundbreaking theory. This collaboration in the mid-1950s coincided with the growing application of quantum mechanics to more complex systems.
Key Achievements
- Co-developed the BCS theory of superconductivity, the first successful quantum theory explaining the phenomenon
- Received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1972 alongside John Bardeen and Leon Cooper
- Won the Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Prize in 1968 for outstanding theoretical contributions
- Awarded the National Medal of Science in 1983 for advancing understanding of quantum many-body systems
- Created mathematical frameworks that influenced multiple areas of theoretical physics beyond superconductivity
Did You Know?
- 01.Schrieffer was only 26 years old when he completed the mathematical formulation that earned him the Nobel Prize
- 02.The BCS theory correctly predicted the isotope effect in superconductors, where the critical temperature varies inversely with the square root of the atomic mass
- 03.He shared the 1972 Nobel Prize with John Bardeen, making Bardeen the only person to win the Nobel Prize in Physics twice
- 04.Schrieffer's doctoral thesis became one of the most influential physics dissertations of the 20th century
- 05.The mathematical techniques he developed for the BCS theory found applications in nuclear physics and particle physics
Awards & Honors
| Award | Year | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Nobel Prize in Physics | 1972 | for their jointly developed theory of superconductivity, usually called the BCS-theory |
| Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Prize | 1968 | — |
| National Medal of Science | 1983 | — |
| Fellow of the American Physical Society | — | — |
| Comstock Prize in Physics | 1968 | — |
| Guggenheim Fellowship | 1966 | — |