John Clarke (physicist) facts for kids
John Clarke, born in 1942, is a British scientist who studies physics. He is a professor at the University of California at Berkeley.
He went to the University of Cambridge in England. He earned several degrees in physics there, finishing his studies in 1968.
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Discovering the Invisible World
John Clarke is famous for his work with superconductivity. This is when certain materials can carry electricity with no resistance. He helped create and use special tools called superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs).
What are SQUIDs?
SQUIDs are super sensitive tools. They can detect tiny changes in magnetic flux. Think of magnetic flux as the strength of a magnetic field passing through an area. SQUIDs are so good at this that they can find very weak magnetic signals.
Searching for Dark Matter
One exciting project John Clarke is working on uses SQUIDs to search for something called the axion. Scientists believe axions might be a part of dark matter. Dark matter is a mysterious substance that we cannot see. It is thought to make up a large part of the universe. SQUIDs help scientists listen for the faint signals that axions might create.
Awards and Recognition
John Clarke has received many important awards for his scientific work.
- In 1986, he became a Fellow of the Royal Society. This is a very high honor for scientists in the UK.
- He won the Comstock Prize in Physics in 1999.
- He also received the Hughes Medal in 2004.
- In 2012, he was chosen as a foreign associate of the US National Academy of Sciences.
- He became a member of the American Philosophical Society in 2017.
- He was awarded the Micius Quantum Prize in 2021.
- He received the Joseph F. Keithley Award For Advances in Measurement Science in 1998.
- He was given a Guggenheim Fellowship from 1977 to 1978.
