[Neutron] 2006 NSSA Sustained Research & Science Prize Recipients: Dr. JohnT

The Neutron Scattering Society of America (NSSA) established the Sustained Research Prize to recognize a sustained contribution to a scientific subfield, or subfields, using neutron scattering techniques. Consideration is given to the impact that the candidate's neutron scattering results have had on the subfield. Preference is given to applicants whose work was carried out predominantly in North America.

The nominations were reviewed by a committee of experts in the fields to which neutron scattering contributes and the NSSA is pleased to announce that the 2006 recipient of the Sustained Research Prize is Dr. John Tranquada, Leader of the Neutron Scattering Group at Brookhaven National Laboratory. The prize and a $2,500 honorarium will be awarded at the 2006 ACNS, St. Charles, IL, June 18-22, 2006 (http://acns2006.anl.gov/).

Dr. Tranquada entered the field of neutron scattering in the late 1980s. Almost immediately he made important contributions to the field of high Tc superconductors. Indeed, his first paper in the field, which demonstrated antiferromagnetic order in the cuprate YBa2Cu3O6+d, received over 500 citations. This observation provided a clear indication that the underlying antiferromagnetic order in the copper-oxygen planes is a characteristic common to all the cuprates. Subsequently, in a series of experiments performed in the mid-nineties, Tranquada and his co-workers laid the experimental foundations for a revolution in our understanding of charge and spin ordering in strongly correlated materials. This work and Tranquada’s subsequent explanation of the charge and spin phenomenology, has had a tremendous and sustained impact in the field of strongly correlated electron physics. It is universally recognized as one of the defining bodies of work in this field. Dr. Tranquada definitively established his impact on the field of superconductivity by conducting many of the critical experiments leading to the discovery of magnetic “stripes” that formed the basis of much of the theoretical work on the relationship of these stripes to superconductivity.
Dr. Tranquada is currently the Head of the Neutron Scattering Group at the Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) on Long Island. In this capacity he has been responsible for overseeing the transition of this group to a new role following the closure of the High Flux Beam Reactor at Brookhaven. His group now functions as a scientific “user” group both at facilities within the U.S. and in Europe and Japan as well being heavily involved with designing an instrument providing new capabilities for the forthcoming Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Tranquada’s outstanding contributions to neutron scattering science have been previously recognized by the award of Fellowship in the American Physical Society and with the award of the BNL Research and Development Award, both in 1997.

Dr. Taner Yildirim

is the recipient of the

2006 Science Prize

of the Neutron Scattering Society of America with the citation:

“For his innovative coupling of first principles theory with neutron scattering to solve critical problems in materials science.”

The Neutron Scattering Society of America (NSSA) established the Science Prize to recognize a major scientific accomplishment or important scientific contribution within the last 5 years using neutron scattering techniques. Preference is given to applicants whose work was carried out predominantly in North America.

The nominations were reviewed by a committee of experts in the scientific areas to which neutron scattering contributes, and the NSSA is pleased to announce that the 2006 recipient of the Science Prize is Dr. Taner Yildirim, from the NIST Center for Neutron Research. The prize and a $2,500 honorarium will be awarded at the 2006 ACNS, St. Charles, IL, June 18-22, 2006 (http://acns2006.anl.gov/).

One of the hallmarks of neutron scattering, a powerful analytic method used in scientific research, is the inherent simplicity of the scattering process itself. This simplicity makes possible direct comparisons of theoretical calculations of the expected scattering with experimental observations that can yield a wealth of information about the microscopic properties and structures of a wide variety of technologically important materials. Dr. Taner Yildirim, who is one of a very few neutron scattering practitioners possessing both strong theoretical skills and deft experimental talents, has used his unusual talents to couple theory and experiment closely and interactively to an unprecedented degree. He has the rare ability to make testable predictions about the properties of materials while simultaneously formulating elegant explanations of experimentally observed quantities in systems ranging from novel superconductors to high-capacity hydrogen storage materials. The power of Dr. Yildirim’s approach, and the scientific insight that can be derived from it, is exceptionally well illustrated by a recent study of the important superconductor MgB2, which has the highest transition temperature of any conventional superconductor. Dr. Yildirim combined first-principles calculations with neutron measurements to demonstrate that the high transition temperature is the result of a particularly anharmonic vibration of the atoms that couples strongly to the electronic states in the system. His results explain not only the origin of the large value of the superconducting transition temperature, but its pressure dependence as well. More recently Dr. Yildirim employed this approach to the problem of hydrogen storage and discovered ways to enhance the uptake of, and the capacity for, hydrogen in a variety of materials including alanates and carbon nanotubes. These results offer the promise of addressing what is widely considered to be the most serious obstacle in the road to the hydrogen economy.
Dr. Yildirim is currently the Team Leader for Computational Neutron Scattering at the National Institute of Standards and Technology Center for Neutron Research in Gaithersburg, Maryland. His outstanding contributions have been previously recognized by the NIST Chapter of Sigma Xi, which awarded him its Outstanding Young Investigator Award in 2002, and by the Department of Commerce, which awarded him a Bronze medal in 2005.

[Neutron] 2006 NSSA Sustained Research & Science Prize Recipients: Dr. JohnTranquada & Taner Yildirim