CLAS professor honored for high temperature discovery

October 10, 2007

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Distinguished professor of physics Arthur Hebard, together with professors Jun Akimitsu of Aoyama-Gakuin University and Robert Haddon of the University of California-Riverside, has been named the 2008 recipient of the American Physical Society’s James C. McGroddy Prize for New Materials for the discovery of high temperature superconductivity in non-oxide systems.

“I am delighted to have received news of this award and am honored that I have been selected to be included in such a distinguished group of co-recipients,” Hebard said.

The award was established in 1999 to recognize and encourage outstanding achievement in the science and application of new materials. Hebard was one of the co-discoverers of superconductivity in potassium-doped C60. His breakthrough paper on the topic was “Superconductivity at 18K in Potassium-doped C60,” which, according to Web of Science, has been cited more than 1,900 times since it was first published in 1991.

Hebard received his B.A. in physics from Yale University, magna cum laude, in 1962. He earned an M.S. and Ph.D. in physics from Stanford University in 1964 and 1971, respectively. Before coming to UF in 1996, he worked as a member of the technical staff at AT&T Bell Telephone Laboratories for nearly 25 years.

Hebard will be honored during the March 2008 meeting of the American Physical Society, where he will receive a certificate and a share of the $5,000 prize.

“Art is an internationally renowned expert on the electronic properties of materials,” said physics chair Alan Dorsey. “He’s made a number of important contributions: discovering new materials, inventing new measurement techniques, and creating new applications for novel materials. The McGroddy Prize is an important and well-deserved recognition of but one of his many scientific achievements.”