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Dr. Phaedon Avouris, the manager of nanoscale science at the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, has been awarded the distinguished Irving Langmuir Prize by the American Physical Society. This biennial award is given to one person who has made an outstanding contribution in the field of chemical physics or physical chemistry within the ten years prior to the prize. According to APS, Dr. Avouris was chosen as the 2003 recipient of this prize for his "fundamental pioneering contributions to nanostructures and atomic-scale phenomena at surfaces."
The award will be presented to Dr. Avouris at the APS Awards Program in Austin, Texas on March 3. The society has awarded the prize since it was established in 1964 by the General Electric Foundation as a memorial to and in recognition of the accomplishments of Irving Langmuir, the recipient of the 1932 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Research
Dr. Avouris's research has involved a wide variety of subjects including laser spectroscopy, surface physics and chemistry, scanning tunneling microscopy and manipulation with proximal probes. His current research focuses on the electrical properties and transport mechanisms in carbon nanotubes, molecular wires and other nanostructures. The work includes the design, fabrication and study of model carbon nanotube and molecular electronic devices.
His leadership and research on carbon nanotubes resulted in the creation of the world's highest performing nanotube transistors. In IBM's announcement, Dr. Avouris stated that "proving that carbon nanotubes outperform silicon transistors opens the door for more research related to the commercial viability of nanotubes. Carbon nanotubes are already the top candidate to replace silicon when current chip features just can't be made any smaller, a physical barrier expected to occur in about 10 to 15 years."
Background
Phaedon Avouris received his B. S. degree from the Aristotelian University in Greece in 1968 and his Ph.D. degree from Michigan State University in 1975. After postdoctoral work at UCLA and AT&T Bell Laboratories he joined the Research Division of IBM in 1978.
He has published about 300 scientific papers. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, the American Vacuum Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the New York Academy of Sciences, and the World Technology Network. He received the Medard W. Welch Award of the American Vacuum Society, the Feynman Prize for Molecular Nanotechnology, the ACSIN Nanoscience Prize, the Distinguished Alumnus award from Michigan State University and four IBM Corporation "Outstanding Technical Achievement" awards.
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