Tom C. Lubensky of physics wins prestigious award
Mary Amanda Wood Professor of Physics Tom C. Lubensky has received the 2004 Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Prize from the American Physical Society (APS). Professor Lubensky and his colleague from Harvard University, David R. Nelson, were recognized for “contributions to the theory of condensed matter systems including the prediction and elucidation of the properties of new, partially ordered phases of complex materials,” according to a citation by APS.
The Buckley Prize was established in 1952 to recognize outstanding contributions to the advancement of knowledge in condensed matter physics.
Dr. Lubensky, an international leader in his field, is the chair of Penn’s Department of Physics and Astronomy. His area of specialization is soft materials such as liquid crystals, membranes, vesicles, and Langmuir films and complex fluids such as microemulsions. He was educated at the California Institute of Technology and Harvard University and came to Penn in 1971 after National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Paris and Brown University. He has been named a member of the National Academy of Sciences, a Sloan fellow, and a Guggenheim fellow and is the co-author of the textbook, Principles of Condensed Matter Physics.