Three Britons awarded Nobel Prize in Physics for pioneering work in condensed-matter physics

Eclipse Technoconsulting Global Pvt. Ltd, a leading software development company in Kolkata, India, congratulates David Thouless, Duncan Haldane and Michael Kosterlitz for winning the Nobel Prize in Physics for 2016. The three Britons were awarded the Prize for their stellar research in condensed-matter physics. Thouless, Haldane and Kosterlitz conducting pioneering research on the kinds of matter which assume strange shapes.

In case you fancy yourself in following in their footsteps, you would do well to know the exact realm of condensed-matter physics in which they did their pioneering work: Topological phase transitions. Topology is actually a branch of mathematics (no surprises there), which highlights the incremental nature of mass increase. The three physicists demonstrated that superconductivity: a state in which matter offers zero resistance to the passage of electricity, occurs only at very low temperatures and disappears at higher temperatures. They also successfully elucidated the exact reasons for its disappearance.
Does the above paragraph sounds Greek to you? If you are still interested in following in the footsteps of these distinguished gentlemen, then perhaps a short description of their academic backgrounds might act as a motivator.

David J Thouless

• PhD: Cornell University
• Postdoc: University of California, Berkeley
• Current post: Professor of Physics, University of Washington, Seattle(since 1980)

Duncan Haldane

• Graduation: Christ’s College, Cambridge
• Current post: Princeton University

Michael(John Michael) Kosterlitz

• D.Phil: Brasenose College, Oxford University
• Postdoc: University of Birmingham and Cornell University
• Current post: Research fellow at Aalto University, Finland

Does this motivate you to become a great physicist? It certainly spurs us on, as a software development company, to create more practical applications of the work of pioneers. These latest developments in condensed matter physics are likely to have many practical applications themselves, especially in creating future superconductors. This could make power saving in electronic appliances a much easier proposition.

2 of the prizes have already been awarded, and the Nobel Prize in Chemistry gets handed out tomorrow. Follow us at #eclipseindia or Eclipsetech12 to uncover more groundbreaking research,