Daniel C. Tsui facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Daniel C. Tsui
崔琦 |
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| 崔琦 (Cuī Qí) | |
Daniel C. Tsui at a dinner honoring Nobel Prize laureates
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| Born | February 28, 1939 Baofeng, Henan, Republic of China
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| Nationality | American |
| Citizenship | United States |
| Alma mater | University of Chicago (Ph.D.) Augustana College (B.Sc.) |
| Known for | Fractional quantum Hall effect |
| Spouse(s) | Linda Varland |
| Children | 2 |
| Awards | Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Prize (1984) Nobel Prize in Physics (1998) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Experimental physics Electrical engineering |
| Institutions | Princeton University Columbia University Bell Laboratories Boston University |
Daniel Chee Tsui (Chinese: 崔琦; pinyin: Cuī Qí, born February 28, 1939) is an American physicist. He is a professor at Princeton University. His work focuses on the electrical properties of very thin materials. He also studies tiny structures in semiconductors. These are materials that can conduct electricity in a controlled way.
Tsui won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1998. He shared it with Robert B. Laughlin and Horst L. Störmer. They won for finding a new type of "quantum fluid." This special fluid has tiny particles that act like they have a fraction of an electric charge.
Contents
About Daniel Tsui
Early Life and Education
Daniel Tsui was born in a small farming village in China. This was on February 28, 1939. His parents could not read or write. His early childhood was tough. He remembered years of drought, floods, and war. These events were always on people's minds in his village.
In 1951, Tsui moved to Hong Kong. He went to Pui Ching Middle School. He started formal schooling there at the sixth-grade level. He found it hard at first because he did not know the local Cantonese language.
After finishing school in 1957, he got into medical school. But he was not sure if he could go back to his family in China. So, he stayed in Hong Kong. He joined a special program to prepare for university.
In 1958, he received a full scholarship. This was to attend Augustana College in the United States. He accepted the offer and arrived in the US that same year.
Tsui graduated from Augustana College in 1961. He was the only student of Chinese background there. He then went to the University of Chicago to study physics. He earned his Ph.D. in physics in 1967. He was inspired by famous Chinese physicists like C. N. Yang and T. D. Lee. They also studied at the University of Chicago.
While at the University of Chicago, Tsui met Linda Varland. They got married. Daniel Tsui is now a US citizen. He and Linda have two daughters, Aileen and Judith.
Amazing Discoveries
After getting his Ph.D., Tsui joined Bell Laboratories in 1968. He worked on solid-state physics. This is the study of how solid materials behave. Instead of popular topics, Tsui focused on a new area. This was the physics of "two-dimensional electrons." These are electrons that can only move in a very thin, flat layer.
In 1982, Tsui and Horst Störmer made a huge discovery. They found the fractional quantum Hall effect. This is a strange behavior of electrons in very strong magnetic fields. The next year, Robert Laughlin explained why this happens. This amazing discovery led to them winning the 1998 Nobel Prize in Physics.
Soon after this discovery, Tsui left Bell Laboratories. In 1982, he joined the faculty at Princeton University. He worked in the electrical engineering department. He stayed at Princeton for 28 years. In 2010, he became a professor emeritus. This means he retired but still holds his title.
He also worked as a research scientist at Columbia University. And he was a research professor at Boston University.
Awards and Recognition
Daniel Tsui has received many important awards for his work. These awards recognize his contributions to physics.
- Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Prize, 1984
- Fellow of the American Physical Society, elected 1985
- Member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, elected 1987
- Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, elected 1991
- Benjamin Franklin Medal in Physics, 1998
- Nobel Prize in Physics, 1998
- Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, elected 2000
- Member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, elected 2004
- Foreign Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, elected 2000
- Academician of Academia Sinica, Taipei
See also
In Spanish: Daniel Chee Tsui para niños
- Quantum hall effect
