Welcome
Introduction of Recipient
Department of Physics
Lecture
Guessing the Rule for Nature’s Glue
Dr. John P. Perdew
Professor, Department of Physics
You are invited to attend a reception immediately following the
ceremony on the outside terrace of Goldring/Woldenberg II
John has been a physics professor at Tulane for nearly 30 years, in which time he has published 190 research articles in refereed journals and edited books, presented 80 invited talks at conferences, and supervised 9 completed Tulane Ph.D.’s as well as 11 postdoctoral fellows. He has enjoyed almost 30 years of National Science Foundation funding in the Division of Materials Research. The widespread applications of his work have made him one of the most-cited physicists in the world. He has been ranked 59th amongst the 1120 most-cited Physicists, 1981-1999, by the Institute for Scientific Information and his work has been recognized by his 2003 election to the International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science.
John has made many important contributions to the density functional theory of the electronic structure of materials, both in the discovery of exact conditions and in the construction of useful and accurate approximations. An early contribution was the recognition of the self-interaction error of common density functionals and a proposal to correct it in his early publication, “Self-Interaction Correction to Density Functional Approximations for Many-Electron Systems.” This was the third most-cited (1893-2003) article in the principal American physics journals Physical Review, Physical Review Letters, and Reviews of Modern Physics. He has also constructed many widely-used approximations to the exchange-correlation energy, as in his publication, “Generalized Gradient Approximation Made Simple,” which has been the most-cited of all physics papers in the world published January 1, 1994 to June 30, 2004. This article alone has been cited more than 5300 times.
John graduated Summa Cum Laude from Gettysburg College, majoring in Physics and Math and earned his Ph.D. in Physics from Cornell University in 1971.
Abstract of Dr. John Perdew’s Lecture
Guessing the Rule for Nature's Glue
Atoms stick together to form ordinary matter. There is a rule or formula for this natural glue in terms of the electron density and knowing it permits practical computer prediction of what atoms, molecules and solids can exist and with what properties. The rule must be found by educated guesswork. What I present to you today is about 30 years of improving guesses and their impact in physics and chemistry.
Recognizing the need to honor deserving scholars and to increase the visibility of the school’s research activity, the Outstanding Researcher Award was established in 2007 by the faculty of the School of Science and Engineering upon the recommendation of the Graduate Studies Committee. The Award is given according to the following criteria:
National and international recognition as evidenced by honors and awards, journal editorships and participation in editorial boards, national and international scientific committees and boards, and professional patents.