bibliography
NNDB
This is a beta version of NNDB
Search: for

Brian D. Josephson

Brian D. JosephsonAKA Brian David Josephson

Born: 4-Jan-1940
Birthplace: Cardiff, Glamorgan, Wales

Gender: Male
Religion: Jewish
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Physicist

Nationality: Wales
Executive summary: Discovered the Josephson Effect

Welsh physicist Brian D. Josephson was still a graduate student in 1962 when he discovered the Josephson effect, explaining how an electrical current can flow between two superconductors (materials with zero electrical resistance) even when an insulator between them would be expected to block the current. This led to development of the Josephson switch, allowing extreme high-speed switching on the molecular level. For his discovery, Josephson was one of three scientists who shared the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1973.

Since the late 1970s his work has focused on the brain and paranormal phenomena including telepathy, which he believes may be related to quantum mechanics. He has stated that scientific papers on topics such as cold fusion, Eastern mysticism, and homeopathy are systematically rejected at leading science journals. In a 2007 letter to Physics Journal, he said he had visited three laboratories where the widely-discredited cold fusion experiments of Martin Fleischmann and Stanley Pons have been replicated, but that reports of such successes have been suppressed.

Father: Abraham Josephson
Mother: Mimi Weisbard Josephson
Wife: Carol Anne Olivier (m. 1976, one daughter)

    High School: Cardiff High School, Cardiff, Wales (1956)
    University: BA Physics, Trinity College, Cambridge University (1960)
    University: MA and PhD Physics, Trinity College, Cambridge University (1964)
    Fellow: Trinity College, Cambridge University (1962)
    Teacher: Physics, University of Illinois (1964-65)
    Scholar: Physics, Cambridge University (1967-72)
    Scholar: Physics, Cornell University (1971-72)
    Teacher: Reader in Physics, Cambridge University (1972-74)
    Professor: Physics, Trinity College, Cambridge University (1974-)

    New Scientist Award 1969
    Research Corporation Award 1969
    Fritz London Memorial Prize 1970
    Elliott Cresson Gold Medal of the Franklin Institute 1972
    IOP Guthrie Medal and Prize 1972
    Hughes Medal 1972
    URSI Van der Pol Medal 1972
    IOP Fernand Holweck Prize 1972
    Nobel Prize for Physics 1973 (with Leo Esaki and Ivar Giaever)
    IET Faraday Medal 1982
    Institute of Physics Fellow
    National Science Foundation Fellowship, 1971-72
    Royal Society 1970
    IEEE 1982
    American Academy of Arts and Sciences 1974
    Jewish Ancestry
    Welsh Ancestry


New!
NNDB MAPPER
Create a map starting with Brian D. Josephson
Requires Flash 7+ and Javascript.

Do you know something we don't?
Submit a correction or make a comment about this profile



Copyright ©2019 Soylent Communications