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Eugene J. Mele

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Eugene John Mele
Born
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
CitizenshipUnited States
Alma materSt. Joseph’s University (B.S., 1972)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Ph.D, 1978)
Known forquantum spin Hall effect
AwardsIra Abrams Award for Distinguished Teaching (1998)
Franklin Medal (2015)
Fontiers of Knowledge Award (2018)
Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics (2019)
John Scott Medal (2019)[1]
Scientific career
FieldsCondensed Matter Physics
InstitutionsMassachusetts Institute of Technology
Xerox Webster Research Center
University of Pennsylvania
Doctoral studentsDina Zhabinskaya
Paul Michalski
Jesse Kinder
Ahmed Maarouf
Michael V. Pykhtin
Chengyu Wei
Suklyun Hong
Maneesh Deshpande
C. Stephen Hellberg
Myung Ho Kang
Han-Yong. Choi
Oscar L. Alerhand
Geoffrey W. Hayden
David P. DiVincenzo

Eugene John "Gene" Mele is a professor of physics at the University of Pennsylvania, where he researches quantum electric phenomena in condensed matter.[2]

Biography

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Mele graduated from Saint Joseph's University in 1972 and obtained a Ph.D. in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1978. After working as a research assistant at the Xerox Research Center in Webster, New York, he was appointed assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania in 1981 and promoted to full professor in 1989. Since 2014 he has also been visiting faculty at Loughborough University in the United Kingdom.

Research

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Together with Charles Kane, he predicted the quantum spin Hall effect in graphene which later was called time-reversal invariant topological insulator for the corresponding two dimensional structures.[3] The existence of quantum spin Hall effect has since been experimentally verified in HgTe quantum wells, and the prospect of applications for these old materials (predicted by others) has stimulated new research interest.[4]

Honours and awards

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Mele and Kane were awarded the 2019 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics.[5] and the 2018 BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Basic Sciences. They had previously received the Benjamin Franklin Medal of the Franklin Institute in 2015, with Shoucheng Zhang,[6] and the European Physical Society Condensed Matter Division Europhysics Prize in 2010 with Zhang, Hartmut Buhmann, and Laurens Molenkamp.[7] He was elected a fellow of the American Physical Society in 2001.[8] He was elected to The National Academy of Sciences in 2019.

Further reading

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  • Kane, Charles L.; Moore, Joel E. (2011). "Topological Insulators" (PDF). Physics World. 24 (2): 32. Bibcode:2011PhyW...24b..32K. doi:10.1088/2058-7058/24/02/36. Retrieved 22 October 2018.
  • Hasan, M. Zahid; Kane, Charles L. (2010). "Topological Insulator". Reviews of Modern Physics. 82 (4): 3045–3067. arXiv:1002.3895. Bibcode:2010RvMP...82.3045H. doi:10.1103/RevModPhys.82.3045

References

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  1. ^ "Charles Kane, Eugene Mele: John Scott Award". The University of Pennsylvania Almanac. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
  2. ^ "Eugene Mele". www.physics.upenn.edu. Retrieved 20 October 2018.
  3. ^ Kane, C.L.; Mele, E.J. (25 November 2005). "Quantum Spin Hall Effect in Graphene". Physical Review Letters. 95 (22): 226081. arXiv:cond-mat/0411737. Bibcode:2005PhRvL..95v6801K. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.95.226801. PMID 16384250. S2CID 6080059.
  4. ^ Kane & Moore (2011).
  5. ^ "Breakthrough Prize – Winners of the 2019 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences, Fundamental Physics and Mathematics Announced". Breakthrough Prize. 17 October 2018. Retrieved 20 October 2018.
  6. ^ "Eugene J. Mele". The Franklin Institute. 27 October 2014. Retrieved 20 October 2018.
  7. ^ "EPS Condensed Matter Division Europhysics Prize - Award recipients" (PDF). European Physical Society. 28 September 2017. Retrieved 20 October 2018.
  8. ^ "APS Fellow archive". APS. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
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