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Contacts: Diane Greenberg, (631) 344-2347 or Mona S. Rowe, (631) 344-5056 Peter Johnson Named Chair of Brookhaven Lab's Condensed Matter Physics & Materials Science DepartmentJune 11, 2008  Peter Johnson (click image to download hi-res version) UPTON, NY - Peter Johnson has been named Chair of the Condensed Matter Physics & Materials Science Department at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, effective June 1. The Condensed Matter Physics & Materials Science Department has 80 employees and an annual budget of about $14 million. The researchers in the department study basic, theoretical and applied aspects of materials; their uses; and their electronic, physical, mechanical and chemical properties in relation to their structure. The researchers endeavor to optimize the behavior of materials and to create new and improved materials to help fulfill the Department of Energy's missions. Currently, much of the research in the department is focused on finding or improving materials that may be of use in meeting the nation's energy needs. For example, studies of the properties of superconductors may lead to better materials for electric power transmission. Because superconductors have no electrical resistance at low temperatures, they would transmit electricity with no loss. In addition, researchers are exploring materials for use in photovoltaics to produce solar energy; investigating strongly correlated materials, in which the interaction between electrons is stronger than in ordinary materials; and studying nanomaterials, materials on the order of billionths of a meter that have properties differing from ordinary materials because of their small-length scales. Research in each of these areas may lead to discoveries that optimize energy efficiency or provide the basis for alternative energy. "It is exciting to have the opportunity to lead a department that is working in areas relating to energy security, which is so critical for our nation and the world at the present time," Johnson said. Johnson is an internationally recognized leader in surface science and photoelectron spectroscopy, a process in which an electron absorbs energy from light and is ejected from the material under study, thus revealing information about its properties. Johnson has focused on materials in which electrons are confined to two dimensions, rather than the usual three dimensions. Two-dimensional materials include the surfaces of metals, where catalytic reactions take place; magnetic multilayers, consisting of alternating layers of thin films of magnetic and nonmagnetic materials; and high-temperature superconductors. After earning a Ph.D. in physics from Warwick University in 1978, Johnson worked for Bell Laboratories, and then joined Brookhaven Lab in 1982. He rose through the ranks to become a senior physicist in 2000, and he became Acting Associate Chair of Brookhaven's Physics Department in 2003. Johnson was appointed Deputy Chair of the Condensed Matter Physics & Materials Science Department upon its founding in April 2006. In June 2007, he became Acting Chair of the department. He also leads the department's electron spectroscopy research group. A recipient of Brookhaven Lab's Science and Technology Award in 2001, Johnson is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Physical Society and the Institute of Physics in the United Kingdom. He is the author of 150 peer-reviewed scientific papers.
Number: 08-60 | BNL Media & Communications Office |
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