[Neutron] 2006 NSSA Sustained Research & Science Prize Recipients: Dr. John Tranquada & Taner Yildirim

[Suzanne G.E. te Velthuis]

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***The Neutron Scattering Society**
of America*

www.neutronscattering.org <http://www.neutronscattering.org>
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*Press Release May 1, 2006

*
*Dr. John Tranquada

*is the recipient of the

*2006 Sustained Research Prize

*of the Neutron Scattering Society of America with the citation:*

"For his outstanding neutron scattering studies of the charge and spin 
ordering in the high Tc cuprates and related materials"*


The Neutron Scattering Society of America (NSSA) established the 
Sustained Research Prize to recognize a _/sustained/_ contribution to a 
scientific subfield, or subfields, using neutron scattering techniques. 
Consideration is given to the impact that the candidate's neutron 
scattering results have had on the subfield.  Preference is given to 
applicants whose work was carried out predominantly in North America.

The nominations were reviewed by a committee of experts in the fields to 
which neutron scattering contributes and the NSSA is pleased to announce 
that the 2006 recipient of the Sustained Research Prize is Dr. John 
Tranquada, Leader of the Neutron Scattering Group at Brookhaven National 
Laboratory.  The prize and a $2,500 honorarium will be awarded at the 
2006 ACNS, St. Charles, IL, June 18-22, 2006 (http://acns2006.anl.gov/).

    Dr. Tranquada entered the field of neutron scattering in the late 
1980s.  Almost immediately he made important contributions to the field 
of high Tc superconductors.  Indeed, his first paper in the field, which 
demonstrated antiferromagnetic order in the cuprate YBa2Cu3O6+d, 
received over 500 citations.  This observation provided a clear 
indication that the underlying antiferromagnetic order in the 
copper-oxygen planes is a characteristic common to all the cuprates.  
Subsequently, in a series of experiments performed in the mid-nineties, 
Tranquada and his co-workers laid the experimental foundations for a 
revolution in our understanding of charge and spin ordering in strongly 
correlated materials.  This work and Tranquada's subsequent explanation 
of the charge and spin phenomenology, has had a tremendous and sustained 
impact in the field of strongly correlated electron physics.  It is 
universally recognized as one of the defining bodies of work in this 
field.  Dr. Tranquada definitively established his impact on the field 
of superconductivity by conducting many of the critical experiments 
leading to the discovery of magnetic "stripes" that formed the basis of 
much of the theoretical work on the relationship of these stripes to 
superconductivity.
    Dr. Tranquada is currently the Head of the Neutron Scattering Group 
at the Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) on 
Long Island.  In this capacity he has been responsible for overseeing 
the transition of this group to a new role following the closure of the 
High Flux Beam Reactor at Brookhaven.  His group now functions as a 
scientific "user" group both at facilities within the U.S. and in Europe 
and Japan as well being heavily involved with designing an instrument 
providing new capabilities for the forthcoming Spallation Neutron Source 
at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Tranquada's outstanding contributions 
to neutron scattering science have been previously recognized by the 
award of Fellowship in the American Physical Society and with the award 
of the BNL Research and Development Award, both in 1997.
*
*
*Dr. Taner Yildirim*

is the recipient of the

*2006 Science Prize*

of the Neutron Scattering Society of America with the citation:

*"For his innovative coupling of first principles theory with neutron 
scattering to solve critical problems in materials science."*


The Neutron Scattering Society of America (NSSA) established the Science 
Prize to recognize a _/major scientific accomplishment or important 
scientific contribution within the last 5 years/_ using neutron 
scattering techniques.  Preference is given to applicants whose work was 
carried out predominantly in North America.

The nominations were reviewed by a committee of experts in the 
scientific areas to which neutron scattering contributes, and the NSSA 
is pleased to announce that the 2006 recipient of the Science Prize is 
Dr. Taner Yildirim, from the NIST Center for Neutron Research.  The 
prize and a $2,500 honorarium will be awarded at the 2006 ACNS, St. 
Charles, IL, June 18-22, 2006 (http://acns2006.anl.gov/).

    One of the hallmarks of neutron scattering, a powerful analytic 
method used in scientific research, is the inherent simplicity of the 
scattering process itself.  This simplicity makes possible direct 
comparisons of theoretical calculations of the expected scattering with 
experimental observations that can yield a wealth of information about 
the microscopic properties and structures of a wide variety of 
technologically important materials.  Dr. Taner Yildirim, who is one of 
a very few neutron scattering practitioners possessing both strong 
theoretical skills and deft experimental talents, has used his unusual 
talents to couple theory and experiment closely and interactively to an 
unprecedented degree.  He has the rare ability to make testable 
predictions about the properties of materials while simultaneously 
formulating elegant explanations of experimentally observed quantities 
in systems ranging from novel superconductors to high-capacity hydrogen 
storage materials.  The power of Dr. Yildirim's approach, and the 
scientific insight that can be derived from it, is exceptionally well 
illustrated by a recent study of the important superconductor MgB2, 
which has the highest transition temperature of any conventional 
superconductor.  Dr. Yildirim combined first-principles calculations 
with neutron measurements to demonstrate that the high transition 
temperature is the result of a particularly anharmonic vibration of the 
atoms that couples strongly to the electronic states in the system.  His 
results explain not only the origin of the large value of the 
superconducting transition temperature, but its pressure dependence as 
well.  More recently Dr. Yildirim employed this approach to the problem 
of hydrogen storage and discovered ways to enhance the uptake of, and 
the capacity for, hydrogen in a variety of materials including alanates 
and carbon nanotubes.  These results offer the promise of addressing 
what is widely considered to be the most serious obstacle in the road to 
the hydrogen economy.  
    Dr. Yildirim is currently the Team Leader for Computational Neutron 
Scattering at the National Institute of Standards and Technology Center 
for Neutron Research in Gaithersburg, Maryland.  His outstanding 
contributions have been previously recognized by the NIST Chapter of 
Sigma Xi, which awarded him its Outstanding Young Investigator Award in 
2002, and by the Department of Commerce, which awarded him a Bronze 
medal in 2005.

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