The Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Physics Prize, the best science honor in the United States, for geometric classical material analysis has awarded two Chinese nationals.
For” groundbreaking theoretical and experimental studies on the collective electronic properties of materials that reflect topological aspects of their band structure ,” Tsinghua University’s Xue Qikun, 59, received recognition. ( At the same time, Ashvin Vishwanath, 50, a scientist from Harvard University, received recognition for various contributions to the field. )
The first person from China to get the respect is Xue. He assisted in placing Tsinghua University on the laureate list of the Prize, which was given in honor of American electrical engineer Oliver Ellsworth Buckley( 1887 – 1959 ), who made significant contributions to the field of submarine telephony.
If Stanford University’s Zhang Shoucheng had never inspired Xue in 2008, he would not have entered the field of geometrical classical materials, which is more about magnetism. He is an expert in scanning routing microscopy and spectroscopy as well as surface materials.
Xue recently acknowledged in an interview that he wasn’t a top student at school and had failed postgraduate admissions exams and public exams. However, he claimed that after each loss, his work had been harder. He claimed that he is unquestionably a hard-working scientist who works from 7 am to 11 pm every day. & nbsp,
Zhang, who was born in Shanghai, was compared to a child portent. His ability allowed him to enroll at Fudan University, a prestigious Chinese universities, at the age of 15, two years before his peers, and complete his bachelor’s degree at age 18. Finally he went to Germany to study. He enrolled at Stony Brook University in the New York state school system in 1983 to study under Chinese mathematician Franklin Yang, a 1957 Nobel laureate winner. & nbsp, He was born in the US.
Zhang had previously predicted that he would eventually receive the Nobel laureate. Otherwise, on December 1, 2018, Zhang fell to his death from a glass of his San Francisco house, leaving Xue in the wake of the intellectual world’s rising sun. Zhang’s home has claimed that he committed suicide due to depression, but other balances express suspicion.
Zhang was arrested between flight connections in Canada for alleged violations of American sanctions against Iran, and she spent three years under house arrest. Ironically, Zhang passed away on the day he was supposed to meet Huawei’s Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou.
Three days prior to Zhang’s passing, on November 27, 2018, his research team announced a collaboration with Huawei to build electronics.
Hall-like result
Xue and his team became famous after an experiment in late 2012 in which they observed the “quantum anomalous Hall-like result (QAHE)” when electric currents flow in topological materials. They published their findings in the journal Science in 2013.
Franklin Yang praised Xue’s QAHE trial as a” Nobel laureate – level” accomplishment in 2014. & nbsp,
To understand what the QAHE is, one should know about the Hall-like result, which was discovered in 1879 by American physicist Edwin Hall (1855-1938).
Hall altered the course of an electrical current using an electrical area. The breakthrough was applied to various electronic tools and voltage measurements. & nbsp,
In 1980, German physicist Klaus von Klitzing discovered the quantum Hall-like result, a quantized version of the Hall-like result.
In 1988, British-born physicist Duncan Haldane suggested the concept of the QAHE (adding “anomalous” to the description), which is the quantum Hall-like result created in the absence of an external magnetic field.
One of the two most well-liked areas of study in condensed problem science right now is QAHE. Superconducting elements are the other. & nbsp,
Foreign experts from abroad
Zhang was actually one of the 23 co-authors on Xue’s 2013 paper on the QAHE study. & nbsp,
They came up as a result of two initiatives meant to bring Chinese experts from abroad back to their country.
In 1994, Xue graduated from the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ ( CAS ) Institute of Physics with a doctorate. He later held positions as a visiting associate professor at the Department of Physics at North Carolina State University in the US and as an interact research associate at Tohoku University’s Institute for Materials Research in Japan.
He enrolled in China’s” Hundred Talents Program” in 1999 and later came back to work as a teacher at his alma mater, the Institute of Physics at CAS. In 2005, he joined Tsinghua.
In 2006, Zhang and his Stanford team co-wrote a paper about the “quantum spin Hall-like result (QSHE),” which is expected to be used to make low-power-consumption electronics in the future.
Zhang joined China’s” Thousand Talents Program,” a recently expanded welcome-home action, in 2008 with the goal of fostering ties with Chinese researchers worldwide. He didn’t quit Stanford or renounce his US citizen. He made contact with Tsinghua and Xue’s lab through the program.
According to Chinese internet transactions that provide scant information, he assisted Huawei in 2009 in” resolving some tough questions” regarding 5G systems. Additionally, he advised Tsinghua to conduct checks on three geometric insulators.
Zhang was one of the three Oliver Buckley Prize winners in 2012,” for the QSHE’s philosophical forecast and experimental study, opening the area of geometrical insulators.”
Before deciding to begin concentrating on the QAHE in 2008, Xue and his team had no educational background in geometrical materials, according to the media. In four times, he claimed, his crew had tested more than 1,000 materials before observing the QAHE.
According to Xue,” These accomplishments are a result of the ongoing development of China’s scientific and technological prowess as well as the long-term and deep concentration of fundamental scientific study since the national reform and starting up.” So, recognition should go to every scholar on the group and, more important, to the nation.
Nobel laureate
Chinese state media has been highlighting Xue’s accomplishments ever since the American Physical Society( APS ) announced the 2024 Oliver E. Buckley Prize winners on October 24. Since the prize was first given to a Chinese national in 1953, he has received it.
The majority of winners over the past 70 years have been Americans and Britons, with a few being Chinese, Korean, and Japanese scientists. & nbsp,
In actuality, American-born Chinese scientists like Frank Fang( 1988 ), Shen Zhixun( 2011 ), and Wen Xiaogang( 2017 ) had won the Prize.
Daniel Tsui Chee, born in Henan, was among the three recipients of the award in 1984 for the discovery of the fractional quantized Hall-like result. He had studied in a Hong Kong secondary school before pursuing further studies in Augustana College in the US. He won the Nobel laureate in Physics in 1998.
Zhang’s passing
Some observers said Xue may win the Nobel laureate one day. That remains to be seen. But Zhang definitely will not win the Nobel laureate, which cannot be awarded posthumously.
The 55-year-old scientist passed away mysteriously after the US began its investigation into his company, Danhua Capital, in November 2018. It was charged with aiding Taiwanese businesses in obtaining US technology. Since the scientist’s passing, there has been no common update regarding the United States’ investigation of Zhang’S organization.
His household attributed the illness to despair, claiming Zhang had committed suicide.
There are reports that Zhang had significant financial issues involving his company, but some dubious Foreign critics claim Zhang was at the height of his career and lifestyle and speculate that the US may have played a role in his passing.
China awarded Xue the State & nbsp, Natural Science Award( the first prize ) on January 8, 2019, to recognize his accomplishments in the QAHE experiment without mentioning Zhang’s contributions.
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