texas a&m university system chancellor john sharp and texas a&m university president michael k young will join the institute for quantum science and engineering (iqse) this week for a two-day symposium to celebrate texas a&m distinguished professor of physics and astronomy and 1996 nobel prize winner david m lee recently featured as the top 100 registrys 2019 physicist of the year dr david m lee the quantum materials science symposium also known more affectionately as lee fest is set for thursday and friday (october 24 and 25) in room 578 of the george p mitchell 40 physics building the all-day format will feature short talks presented by lees colleagues within the texas a&m departments of physics and astronomy and materials science and engineering all presentations are open to the public and free of charge following breakfast in the iqses fifth-floor mitchell physics building headquarters the symposium will begin thursday with 8:55 am remarks from chancellor sharp then a 9 am presentation from lee recapping the nobel prize-worthy history of the discovery of superfluid helium-3 (he-3) president young similarly will open fridays slate with 9 am remarks followed by a 9:10 am presentation from texas a&m distinguished professor of physics and iqse director marlan o scully both days will conclude with 4 pm presentations by external faculty rice universitys junichiro kono on thursday and appalachian state universitys francois amet on friday thursdays festivities also will feature an rsvp-required 5:30 pm dinner at the hilton college station & conference center lee and fellow texas a&m physicist marlan o scully (right) at a 2017 hagler institute for advanced study symposium (credit: hagler institute for advanced study) a member of the national academy of sciences (1991) and the american academy of arts and sciences (1990) lee earned his phd from yale university in 1959 and took a faculty position at cornell university where he had enjoyed a prolific 50-year career prior to accepting a half-time professorial appointment at texas a&m in november 2009 at texas a&m he is a member of the iqse and was appointed as a distinguished professor of physics and astronomy in 2012 lee shared the 1996 nobel prize in physics with fellow cornell physicist robert c richardson and stanford universitys douglas d osheroff their doctoral student at cornell at the time for their 1972 discovery of superfluidity in he-3 during their days in the low-temperature laboratory at cornell in the early 1970s the three discovered using a hand-built apparatus that the helium isotope helium-3 can be made superfluid unaffected by friction at a temperature only about two thousandths of a degree above absolute zero this superfluid quantum liquid differed greatly from the one previously discovered in the 1930s and possessed highly specialized characteristics illustrating that the quantum laws of microphyiscs also sometimes directly govern the behavior of macroscopic bodies as a result of their breakthrough discovery superfluid he-3 is now one of the richest systems in condensed matter physics with exotic order parameters that exemplify a whole new set of physical concepts that impact many other areas including even cosmology lee presenting at the 2017 texas a&m physics and engineering festival during the course of the trios nobel experimentation they also performed one of the first physics magnetic resonance imaging (mri) experiments involving magnetic field gradients on the he-3 sample imaging work applied to subsequent biological sampling techniques and later to the human body in disease detection and diagnosis lee has made many additional noteworthy discoveries during his 60-year career studying liquid and solid helium including nuclear spin waves in spin-polarized atomic hydrogen gas more recently he has observed collective sound modes in superfluid he-3 that obey the nambu identity and are analogous to the higgs phenomenon in elementary particle physics currently lee is actively engaged in studies of atomic free radicals trapped in low temperature matrices including spin polarized hydrogen atoms embedded in the films of molecular hydrogen while lee understandably considers his nobel as a career highlight he is equally proud of his 33 phd students he has mentored who currently hold key positions in academia and industry throughout the world in addition to the nobel lees many international accolades include multiple guggenheim foundation fellowships (1966-67 1974-75) the british institute of physics sir francis simon memorial prize (1976) the american physical societys oliver buckley prize (1981) and yales wilbur cross medal (1998) in addition he has been highlighted in multiple editions of marquis whos who recently earning the albert nelson marquis lifetime achievement award for 2019-2020 lee fest is sponsored by iqse in partnership with the hagler institute for advanced study all events are organized by texas a&m professors alexander finkelstein vitaly kocharovsky and alan needleman the latter of whom was an inaugural hagler institute faculty fellow in 2012-13 for additional information please visit the symposium website or email iqse@tamuedu # # # # # # # # # # about research at texas a&m university: as one of the worlds leading research institutions texas a&m is at the forefront in making significant contributions to scholarship and discovery including in science and technology research conducted at texas a&m generated annual expenditures of more than $922 million in fiscal year 2018 texas a&m ranked in the top 20 of the national science foundations higher education research and development survey (2017) based on expenditures of more than $9054 million in fiscal year 2017 texas a&ms research creates new knowledge that provides basic fundamental and applied contributions resulting in many cases in economic benefits to the state nation and world to learn more visit http://researchtamuedu -atm- contact: shana k hutchins (979) 862-1237 or shutchins@sciencetamuedu or kimberly chapin (979) 845-1534 or k-chapin@tamuedu the post texas a&m to host two-day symposium to honor nobel laureate and 2019 physicist of the year david lee appeared first on college of science share: