Volker Heine facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Volker Heine
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Heine in 2012
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| Born | September 19, 1930 Hamburg, Germany
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| Fields | Condensed matter physics, materials science |
| Institutions | University of Cambridge |
| Doctoral advisor | Sir Nevill Mott |
| Doctoral students | John Pendry |
Volker Heine (born 19 September 1930) is a famous physicist from Germany, New Zealand, and Britain. He is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Cambridge. He is known for being a pioneer in studying the tiny parts that make up solids and liquids. He helped us understand how these parts behave and what properties materials have.
Contents
About Volker Heine
Early Life and Education
Volker Heine was born in Hamburg, Germany. He went to school at Wanganui Collegiate School and the University of Otago in New Zealand. In 1954, he moved to the University of Cambridge in England. There, he earned his Ph.D. in physics in 1956. His teacher was the well-known scientist Sir Nevill Mott.
A Career in Science
After his studies, Volker Heine became a Fellow at Clare College. He joined a new group of scientists at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge. Except for a year of post-doctoral work and some visits to the US, he spent his whole career in Cambridge. In 1976, he became a professor. He also became the head of the "Theory of Condensed Matter" group. He led this group until he retired in 1997.
Helping Scientists Work Together
Volker Heine was very active in the world of science. He especially helped shape how scientists use computers to study materials in Europe. He started and led a group called Psi-k. This is a worldwide network of researchers. They work on using computers to understand and design new materials. Psi-k helps develop new ideas, computer programs, and codes. Their goal is to predict how materials will behave. They also organize conferences, workshops, and training for scientists. They even help share scientific ideas with everyone.
Awards and Recognition
Volker Heine has received many important awards for his work. In 1974, he became a Fellow of the Royal Society. This is a very high honor for scientists in the UK. In 1987, he became a Fellow of the American Physical Society. He won the Maxwell Medal and Prize in 1972. He also received the Royal Medal in 1993 and the Dirac Medal in 1994. In 2001, he was given the Max Born Prize. He has also been a visiting professor at many universities around the world. He was also a scientific member at the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research in Germany.
Volker Heine is married to Daphne Heine. They have three children.
Important Research Discoveries
Volker Heine's research focused on three main areas. First, he wanted to understand how materials behave by looking at their tiny parts. Second, he studied why some materials have unusual, repeating patterns. Third, he explored the structure and properties of minerals at an atomic level.
His main work was about the "electronic structure" of materials. This means how the electrons inside a material are arranged and move. He developed important ideas that are still used today. For example, his work on "pseudopotentials" helps scientists calculate how electrons behave in materials. This is especially useful for materials like semiconductors and certain metals.
He also helped us understand how electrons and vibrations in a material interact. His work also explained a lot about how atoms are arranged on the surface of materials. He also had new ideas about how electrons move on surfaces. This helped us understand how different materials connect, like metals and semiconductors.
Among his other important contributions, he created a method to study electronic structures. He also developed a theory for the strange structures found in silicon carbide. He even created a model for the structures of minerals. He also studied how materials become magnetic. He looked at how materials change from one form to another, and how they expand when heated. Volker Heine has written over 200 research papers and a textbook.
