Nobel Laureate Müller at Lab for Kac Memorial Lecture Series

At 10 a.m., Nov. 18, Müller will speak on "Fifteen Years After the Discovery of Superconductivity in the Cuprates," in the Materials Science Laboratory Auditorium at TA-3. The next day Müller speaks at 2 p.m. in the MSL Auditorium about "On the Macroscopic Superconductivity s- and d-wave Symmetry in Cuprate SuperConductors." Both presentations are open to the Laboratory work force.

Müller was a co-recipient of a Nobel Prize in physics in 1987 (with J. Georg Bednorz) for their important break-through in the discovery of superconductivity in ceramic materials. He also is a Fellow of the American Physics Society and holds a number of international memberships in physics societies. He received a diploma and doctoral degree in physics from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. He led the Physics Department at the University of Zurich from 1973 to 1985 and is an IBM Fellow at the IBM Zurich Research Laboratory.

Müller has contributed significantly to the understanding of critical phenomena associated with structural phase transitions. Prior to his work, it was generally believed that critical effects weren't important for structural changes in crystals. He also has made important contributions in the areas of single-ion properties in oxides and of the Jahn-Teller effect.

The Mark Kac Memorial Lecture Series was started at the Lab in the mid 1980s to honor the founding chairman of the CNLS External Advisory Committee. Kac has pioneered the development of mathematical probability, in particular its applications to statistical physics and was the recipient of numerous honors from the Mathematical Association of America.

More information on Müller can be found at http://www.nobel.se/physics/laureates/1987/muller-autobio.html online.

-- Steve Sandoval