Professor Nigel Cooper awarded 2019 John William Strutt, Lord Rayleigh Medal and Prize

Professor Nigel Cooper (1988) has been awarded the 2019 John William Strutt, Lord Rayleigh Medal and Prize by the Institute of Physics for "profound contributions to the quantum theory of many-particle systems, concerning both topological phases of cold atoms in artificial gauge fields and novel phenomena in electronic materials."

Professor Cooper's research interests are focused on the novel phases of matter that appear in situations where the motion of the constituent particles must be described by the laws of quantum mechanics. The award was given for the theoretical understanding of these novel phases of matter, that appear in situations where the motion of the constituent particles must be described by the laws of quantum mechanics. This basic research underpins the development of future “quantum” technologies for information processing or for precision sensing, in which the laws of quantum mechanics are exploited to provide dramatic performance enhancements.

The John William Strutt, Lord Rayleigh Medal and Prize was established in 2008. It is awarded for distinguished contributions to theoretical, (including mathematical and computational) physics. The silver medal is accompanied by a prize of £1,000 and a certificate. It is named in honour of English physicist, Lord Rayleigh FRS, who made fundamental discoveries in acoustics and optics – in particular, what is now known as Rayleigh scattering and Rayleigh waves. In 1904 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics for discovering the element argon.

For more information about the award, please visit: http://www.iop.org/about/awards/subject/strutt/medallists/page_72831.html

More information about the work of Professor Cooper and the Theory of Condensed Matter Research Group can be found here: http://www.tcm.phy.cam.ac.uk/profiles/nrc25/