Subject: [Depfis] buena noticia

From: "Juan Pablo Paz" <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 1 May 2009 20:51:11 -0300 (ART)

Hola,

retransmito una buena noticia: Eduardo Fradkin, graduado en nuestro
Departamento,
ex docente del mismo, que recientemente actuo como jurado de algunos de
nuestros
concursos de profesores, ha sido nombrado miembro de la Academica
Americana de
Ciencias. Con mucha alegria envio la informacion completa aqui abajo.
Felicitaciones a
"la piedra"...

Saludos,

Juan Pablo Paz

Illinois physicist elected fellow of American Academy of Arts and Sciences

4/20/09

James E. Kloeppel, Physical Sciences Editor
217-244-1073; [email-masked]

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Eduardo H. Fradkin, a professor of physics at the
University of Illinois, has been elected a fellow of the American Academy
of Arts and Sciences.

Election to the American Academy is an honor that acknowledges the best of
all scholarly fields and professions. Among the academy's 210 other new
fellows are U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Nobel laureate Nelson
Mandela, Civil War historian James McPherson, and actors Dustin Hoffman
and James Earl Jones. They will be inducted Oct. 10 during ceremonies at
the academy's headquarters in Cambridge, Mass.

"Professor Fradkin is an internationally recognized leader in theoretical
physics who has made profound contributions to the application of quantum
field theory to condensed matter physics," said Richard Herman, the
chancellor of the Urbana campus. "His election is yet another sign of a
distinguished career and is a great source of pride to our institution."

In his early work, Fradkin pioneered the use of concepts from condensed
matter physics and statistical physics to problems in quantum field theory
and high-energy physics. One of his most important results was the proof
that when matter fields carry the fundamental unit of charge, the Higgs
and confinement phases of gauge theories are smoothly connected and are as
different as a liquid is from a gas. This result remains a cornerstone in
our understanding of the phases of gauge theories and a lasting
contribution to elementary particle physics.

More recently, Fradkin's unique perspective allowed him to apply results
from quantum field theory to condensed matter physics. He was one of the
first theorists to use gauge theory concepts in the theory of spin
glasses, and to use concepts of chaos and non-linear systems in
equilibrium statistical mechanics of frustrated systems.

Fradkin also pioneered the use of Dirac fermions for condensed matter
physics problems, particularly in two dimensions. A prime example is his
work on Dirac fermions on random fields, which is now regarded as the
universality class of the transition between quantum Hall plateaus in the
integer Hall effect.

Another major achievement of Fradkin's research has been the development,
in collaboration with former graduate student Ana Lopez, of the fermion
Chern-Simons field theory of the fractional quantum Hall effect. This
theory, and its subsequent extensions by Fradkin and his collaborators to
the non-Abelian quantum hall states, has played a key role in current
research efforts in the theory of topological quantum computing.

Fradkin, in collaboration with Steven Kivelson (Stanford University) and
the late Victor Emery (Brookhaven National Laboratory), developed the
concept of electronic liquid crystal phases in strongly correlated
electronic systems. This theory is one of the leading proposals to explain
the mechanism of high-temperature superconductivity, and it is the focus
of a current major experimental research effort.

Fradkin is a fellow of the American Physical Society, a member of the
Asociación Física Argentina (Argentine Physical Association) and an editor
of the Journal of Statistical Mechanics: Theory and Experiment.

Fradkin earned his master's degree in physics in 1973 from Universidad de
Buenos Aires, Argentina, and his doctorate in physics in 1979 from
Stanford. He came to Illinois as a postdoctoral research associate in
1979, and joined the faculty in 1981.

The American Academy was founded in 1780 by John Adams, John Hancock and
other scholar-patriots "to cultivate every art and science which may tend
to advance the interest, honor, dignity and happiness of a free,
independent and virtuous people."

The academy has more than 4,000 fellows and 600 foreign honorary members,
which includes more than 250 Nobel laureates and 60 Pulitzer Prize
winners. The academy focuses its research on international security,
social policy, education and the humanities.

Dr.Gabriel M. Bilmes
Centro de Investigaciones Opticas (CONICET-CIC)
Casilla de correo Nº3
C.P.1897 Gonnet, Bs.As. Argentina
T.E 54-221-471-5249
Fax 54-221- 471-2771
Mail: [email-masked]

Sara Aldabe Bilmes
profesora asociada

Universidad de Buenos Aires
DQIAQF-INQUIMAE
Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales
Ciudad Universitaria Pab. II
C1428EHA Buenos Aires
fax: +54-11-45763341
tel: +54-11-45763378/80 ext 130

-- 
Dr Juan Pablo Paz
Professor
Department of Physics, FCEyN
University of Buenos Aires, Argentina
Phone: 54-11-45763353
Fax:     54-11-45763357
email: [email-masked]
http://www.df.uba.ar/users/paz
http://www.qufiba.df.uba.ar