Physicist — John Robert Schrieffer (Oak Park, 1931 – Tallahassee, 2019) was an American physicist, known for his fundamental contribution to the theory of superconductivity. Still a doctoral student at the University of Illinois, he worked with John Bardeen and Leon Cooper on formulating the microscopic theory that explains the phenomenon. In 1957 the three published the so-called BCS theory (from their initials), which describes superconductivity as a consequence of the formation of bound electron pairs, known as Cooper pairs. For this work he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1972, together with Bardeen and Cooper. BCS theory is regarded as one of the greatest achievements of twentieth-century solid-state physics.
Trivia
Schrieffer is credited with the wavefunction describing the collective state of Cooper pairs, worked out when he was barely twenty during his doctorate.
Theories and contributions
- BCS theory of superconductivity — Superconductivity arises from the formation of Cooper pairs: electrons bound in pairs through an interaction mediated by lattice phonons.
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Linked atoms
1 linked atoms.