His discovery of the fractional quantum Hall effect, the work for which he was awarded the 1998 Nobel Prize, occurred shortly before he was appointed Professor of Electrical Engineering at Princeton University in 1982.
Penemuannya pada efek Hall kuantum fraksional, karyanya yang mendapat Penghargaan Nobel, terjadi sebelum ia diangkat sebagai profesor Teknik Elektro Princeton pada tahun 1982.