Gabriel Aeppli facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Gabriel Aeppli
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| Born | 25 November 1956 Zürich, Switzerland
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| Nationality | American Swiss |
| Education | Massachusetts Institute of Technology (B.Sc, M.Sc, PhD) |
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Gabriel Aeppli, born on November 25, 1956, is a Swiss-American electrical engineer and physicist. He helped create the London Centre for Nanotechnology. He is also a professor of physics at universities in Switzerland and leads a science department there.
He has done important work in understanding how magnets behave, especially in unusual materials. His research has helped scientists learn about things like superconductivity, which is when electricity flows without any resistance. He studies tiny particles and how they interact, which is called quantum physics.
Gabriel Aeppli has received many awards for his scientific work. He has also published many research papers.
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Early Life and Education
Gabriel Aeppli was born in Zürich, Switzerland, on November 25, 1956. His father, Alfred Aeppli, was a mathematician.
Soon after he was born, Gabriel moved with his father to the United States. Later, he lived in London, United Kingdom, from 2002 to 2015. After that, he moved back to Zürich.
He studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). There, he earned his Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) degree in mathematics in 1978. He also received his Master of Science (M.Sc.) and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering in 1983.
His Career in Science
After finishing his studies, Gabriel Aeppli worked as a research assistant at MIT. He also gained experience as a student at IBM.
From 1982, he worked at Bell Laboratories, a famous research center. In 1993, he became a distinguished member of their technical staff. From 1996 to 2002, he was a senior research scientist at NEC Laboratories in Princeton.
In 2002, he became a professor of physics at University College London (UCL). He played a key role in starting the London Centre for Nanotechnology. He was the director there until March 2015.
Today, his main focus is on how light science (photon science) and nanotechnology can be used. He looks at how these fields can help with things like information processing and health care. He is currently the director of synchrotron radiation and nanotechnology at the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland.
Important Discoveries and Research
Gabriel Aeppli's research has explored many interesting areas in physics. He has studied:
- Kondo insulators: These are special materials that act like insulators (they don't conduct electricity well) at low temperatures, but they have properties related to magnetism.
- Scale-free networks: These are types of networks where a few "hubs" have many connections, while most other points have only a few. This idea is used in many fields, from the internet to social connections.
His work has helped scientists understand how tiny particles behave and how their movements can lead to big changes in materials.
Awards and Recognitions
Gabriel Aeppli has received many important awards for his contributions to science. Some of these include:
- 2015: Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences
- 2012: Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- 2010: Fellow of the Royal Society
- 2008: Nevill Mott Medal and Prize from the Institute of Physics
- 2005: Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Prize from the American Physical Society
- 2005: Majumdar Memorial Award
- 2003: Neel Medal (a prize for magnetism)
- 2002: Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award
- 1997: Fellow of the American Physical Society
- 1996: Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
Books He Has Written
Gabriel Aeppli has also written or co-written several books about his research:
- "Neutron Scattering from Random Ferromagnets" (1982)
- "Quantum Phase Transitions in Transverse Field Models" (2015)
