John P. Perdew | |
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 John Perdew gives a talk at the Tulane University 2007 School of Science and Engineering (SSE) Research Day | |
| Born | (1943-08-30)August 30, 1943 (age 81) |
| Alma mater | Cornell University (Ph.D., M.S.),Gettysburg College (A.B.) |
| Awards | Elected toNational Academy of Sciences |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | solid-state physics,density functional theory,quantum chemistry |
| Institutions | Temple University,Tulane University |
John P. Perdew (born August 30, 1943) is a theoreticalcondensed matter physicist known for his contributions to the fields ofsolid-state physics andquantum chemistry. His work ondensity functional theory has led to him being one of the world's most cited physicists.[1] Perdew currently teaches and conducts research atTulane University.[2]
John Perdew was born and raised inCumberland, Maryland. After showing an aptitude for mathematics in high school, Perdew received aNational Merit Scholarship and attendedGettysburg College, where he developed his interest inphysics.
Perdew graduatedSumma cum laude from Gettysburg College with aBachelor of Arts in physics in 1965. He then received aPh.D. in physics fromCornell University in 1971. His doctoral advisor was John W. Wilkins, who introduced Perdew to solid-state theory.[1]
Perdew began his academic career as a postdoctoral fellow under Sy Vosko at theUniversity of Toronto from 1971 to 1974, and then with David Langreth atRutgers University from 1975 to 1977.[1]
Perdew started his teaching career in 1977 atTulane University, where he taught until 2013. During his time at Tulane, Perdew taught physics and supervised nine completed Ph.D.'s as well as 11 postdoctoral fellows. He received the Outstanding Researcher Award from Tulane'sSchool of Science and Engineering in 2007[3] and the President's Awards for Excellence in Professional and Graduate Teaching in 2009.[4]
In 2013, Perdew moved toTemple University, where he is aLaura H. Carnell Professor of Physics and Chemistry at Temple'sSchool of Science and Technology, as well as the founding director of the Center for Materials Theory.[5] In 2023, Perdew returned to Tulane University as a Professor of Physics.
John Perdew's best-known scientific contributions are in the field ofdensity functional theory (DFT). He was introduced to DFT by his postdoctoral supervisors at University of Toronto and Rutgers, before it became widely used.
Perdew was one of the early pioneers of density functional theory, helping it become accurate enough for calculations inquantum chemistry,materials science, andgeoscience. He made important contributions to the exactadiabatic connection fluctuation dissipation theorem (ACFD) for the (exchange)-correlation energy, the derivative discontinuity and its contribution to the fundamental gap, scaling and other exact constraints on the functionals, the self-interaction correction, the nonempirical generalized gradient approximation (GGA), and the nonempirical meta-GGA.[1] In 1984 he derived the Levy-Perdew-Sahni (LPS) equation, the analogue to theKohn-Sham equations forOrbital-free density functional theory.
Visualizing DFT functionals to be a succession of ladder steps, Perdew formulated the Jacob's Ladder strategy for constructing improved density functionals for the exchange-correlation energy. Perdew first presented this theory at theInternational Congress of Quantum Chemistry's DFT2000 symposium in June 2000, describing five generations of functionals in a sequence he called the Jacob's Ladder.[6] Perdew's Jacob's Ladder scheme has been picked up by other researchers in DFT[7] and progress higher up the ladder continue to appear in the field's scientific literature.[8]
Perdew continues DFT research in his role at Tulane University. His current research interests include the construction of a bettermeta-GGA and improved descriptions for strong correlation and for thevan der Waals interaction.[9]
John Perdew is one of the world's most cited physicists, with over 410,000 Google Scholar citations referring to his work in the field of density functional theory. A study identifies him as possibly the world's most-cited physicist for articles published between 1981 and 2010. Of Perdew's more than 260 published works, a 1996 paper titled "Generalized Gradient Approximation Made Simple" from the journalPhysical Review Letters has been cited more than 147,000 times and was the most-cited paper in the field of physics from 1996 to 2010. In total, Perdew has five works among the 10 most-cited physics papers of the past 30 years.[10]
Many of Perdew's peers recognize his influence on the field of density functional theory. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences (USA) in 2011. Upon naming Perdew as the recipient of the 2012 Materials Theory Award, theMaterials Research Society cited Perdew's "pioneering contributions" that resulted in thousands of other researchers being able to perform DFT calculations and simulations.[11]
John Perdew was elected to theNational Academy of Sciences in 2011, and is one of 2,000 distinguished scientists from all fields that help advise the U.S. government on scientific policy.[12] Other notable awards and honors include:
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