Brian Josephson facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Professor Brian Josephson FRS
Josephson in 2004
Born	Brian David Josephson (1940-01-04) 4 January 1940 (age 85) Cardiff, Wales
Alma mater	Trinity College, Cambridge (MA, PhD)
Known for	Josephson effect
Spouse(s)	Carol Anne Olivier ​ (m. 1976)​
Children	1
Awards	FRS (1970) Fritz London Memorial Prize (1970) Elliott Cresson Medal (1972) Guthrie Medal (1972) Hughes Medal (1972) Holweck Prize (1973) Nobel Prize in Physics (1973) Faraday Medal (1982)
Scientific career
Fields	Physics
Institutions	University of Cambridge
Thesis	Non-linear conduction in superconductors (1964)
Doctoral advisor	Brian Pippard

Brian David Josephson (born 4 January 1940) is a famous Welsh physicist. He was a professor of physics at the University of Cambridge. He is best known for his amazing work on superconductivity and quantum tunnelling.

In 1973, he shared the Nobel Prize in Physics with Leo Esaki and Ivar Giaever. He won the prize for discovering the Josephson effect in 1962. At the time, he was only 22 years old and a PhD student at Cambridge.

Josephson spent his whole career at Cambridge's Cavendish Laboratory. He has been a special member (fellow) of Trinity College, Cambridge since 1962. He was a professor of physics from 1974 until he retired in 2007.

Later in his career, Josephson became interested in topics outside of regular science. He explored ideas about how the mind and matter might be connected. This included looking at how quantum mechanics (a part of physics) might relate to consciousness.

Early Life and Education

Growing Up and Learning

Entrance to the old Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge.

Brian Josephson was born in Cardiff, Wales, on 4 January 1940. His parents were Mimi and Abraham Josephson. He went to Cardiff High School. He often said that some of his teachers helped him a lot, especially his physics teacher, Emrys Jones. Mr. Jones introduced him to the exciting world of theoretical physics.

In 1957, Brian went to Trinity College, Cambridge. He first studied mathematics. After two years, he found math a bit boring, so he decided to switch to physics.

At Cambridge, Brian was known as a very smart but quiet student. Another physicist, John Waldram, remembered hearing examiners talk about Brian's test results. They said he understood physics theory "like a knife through butter." Even before he finished his first degree, Brian published an important paper about the Mössbauer effect. He noticed something crucial that other scientists had missed.

He finished his first degree in 1960. Then, he became a research student at the university's Mond Laboratory. His supervisor was Brian Pippard. It was during this time, as a PhD student in 1962, that he made his famous discovery. The Cavendish Laboratory even put up a special plaque in 2012 to celebrate his discovery. Brian became a fellow of Trinity College in 1962. He earned his PhD in 1964.

His Big Discovery: The Josephson Effect

What is the Josephson Effect?

Brian Josephson was only 22 years old when he did the work that won him the Nobel Prize. He studied something called quantum tunnelling. He found that a special kind of electric current, called a supercurrent, could pass through a very thin barrier.

He predicted three main things:

• A current would flow between two superconductors even without any voltage.
• If there was a voltage, the current would wiggle (oscillate) at a certain speed.
• This effect would change if there was a magnetic field nearby.

These predictions became known as the Josephson effect. The place where the two superconductors meet is called a Josephson junction.

A special chip with 3020 Josephson junctions, used to create a very precise voltage.

How the Discovery Was Made

Brian published his ideas in a science journal called Physics Letters in July 1962. His supervisor, Brian Pippard, chose this new journal for the paper. Soon after, other scientists, Philip Anderson and John Rowell, confirmed Brian's calculations with experiments. They worked at Bell Labs in Princeton.

At first, a very famous physicist named John Bardeen disagreed with Brian's work. But after the experiments confirmed Brian's predictions, the scientific community accepted the Josephson effect.

The discovery of the Josephson effect led to many important inventions. One of them is SQUIDs (superconducting quantum interference devices). These devices are super sensitive and are used in geology, medicine, and even computing. For example, IBM used Brian's work in the 1980s to build a super-fast computer prototype.

Winning the Nobel Prize

The Mond Building in Cambridge, where Brian Josephson worked.

Brian Josephson received several important awards for his discovery. These included the Hughes Medal and the Holweck Prize in 1972.

In 1973, he won the Nobel Prize in Physics. He shared the prize money with two other scientists, Leo Esaki and Ivar Giaever, who also worked on quantum tunnelling. Brian received half of the prize "for his theoretical predictions of the properties of a supercurrent through a tunnel barrier, in particular those phenomena which are generally known as the Josephson effects."

After winning the Nobel Prize, Brian spent a year in the United States as a research professor. When he returned to Cambridge, he became an assistant director at the Cavendish Laboratory in 1967. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1970. In 1974, he became a full professor, a position he held until he retired in 2007.

Exploring New Ideas

Mind, Matter, and Meditation

Brian Josephson became a fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge in 1962.

In the late 1960s, Brian Josephson became very interested in the philosophy of mind. He wondered how the mind and body are connected. He also explored ideas about parapsychology, which looks at things like telepathy (mind reading) or psychokinesis (moving objects with the mind).

In 1971, he started practicing Transcendental Meditation (TM). This was a type of meditation that had become popular with many famous people. Winning the Nobel Prize in 1973 gave him the freedom to explore less traditional areas of science. He started talking about meditation and higher states of consciousness at science conferences. This sometimes annoyed other scientists.

For example, in 1974, he suggested that scientists read old spiritual texts and learn about meditation. Some scientists were upset, saying they didn't want to hear his "wild ideas." However, Brian felt that his college, Trinity College, had a history of being open to unusual ideas.

Brian continued to explore the idea that there might be a kind of intelligence in nature. He even took up a more advanced form of TM. He believed that meditation could lead to new scientific insights.

Connecting Physics with Consciousness

The Cavendish Laboratory unveiled a plaque on the Mond Building in November 2012, celebrating the discovery of the Josephson effect.

In the mid-1970s, Brian Josephson joined a group of physicists in California. This group, called the Fundamental Fysiks Group, was also looking into unusual claims. They used ideas from quantum physics, like quantum entanglement, to explore topics such as action at a distance and remote viewing.

In 1976, Brian visited this group in California. He met other physicists who were also interested in these connections. In 1978, he helped organize a conference in Cambridge about consciousness.

By 1996, he had started the Mind–Matter Unification Project at the Cavendish Laboratory. This project aimed to explore intelligent processes in nature. In 2002, he told Physics World that he believed future science would see quantum mechanics as a way to understand complex systems. He thought that paranormal phenomena might be another way these systems show themselves.

Awards and Recognition

See also

In Spanish: Brian David Josephson para niños

• Josephson voltage standard
• Josephson vortex
• Long Josephson junction
• Pi Josephson junction
• Phi Josephson junction
• List of Jewish Nobel laureates
• List of Nobel laureates in Physics
• List of physicists
• Scientific phenomena named after people