Leon Cooper facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Leon Cooper
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Cooper in 2007
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Leon N. Kupchik
February 28, 1930 New York City, U.S.
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| Died | October 23, 2024 (aged 94) Providence, Rhode Island, U.S.
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| Alma mater | Columbia University (BA, MA, PhD) |
| Known for | Cooper pairs BCM theory BCS theory |
| Awards | John Jay Award (1985) Nobel Prize in Physics (1972) Comstock Prize in Physics (1968) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Physics |
| Institutions | Brown University |
| Doctoral advisor | Robert Serber |
Leon N. Cooper (né Kupchik; February 28, 1930 – October 23, 2024) was an American physicist and Nobel Prize laureate who, with John Bardeen and John Robert Schrieffer, developed the BCS theory of superconductivity. His name is also associated with the Cooper pair and the BCM theory of synaptic plasticity.
Background
Leon N. Kupchick was born to a Jewish family in The Bronx, New York City on February 28, 1930. While some sources have suggested the N. stood for "Neil", it was not short for anything. His father immigrated to the United States from Belarus, and his mother, who died when he was seven, was from Poland. His father later changed the family's surname to Cooper.
Cooper graduated from the Bronx High School of Science in 1947 and received a BA in 1951, MA in 1953, and PhD in 1954 from Columbia University.
Career
Cooper spent a year at the Institute for Advanced Study and taught at the University of Illinois and Ohio State University before coming to Brown University in 1958.
In 1974, Cooper became the Thomas J. Watson Sr. Professor of Science at Brown, and director of the Institute for Brain and Neural Systems which he founded in 1973. Along with colleague Charles Elbaum, he founded the tech company Nestor, dedicated to finding commercial applications for artificial neural networks. Nestor, along with Intel, developed the Ni1000 neural network computer chip in 1994.
Cooper carried out research at various institutions including the Institute for Advanced Study and the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva, Switzerland.
Personal life and death
In 1969 Cooper married Kay Allard. They had two children. The character Sheldon Cooper, featured in the CBS comedy The Big Bang Theory, is named in part after Leon Cooper.
Leon Cooper died at his home in Providence, Rhode Island, on October 23, 2024, at the age of 94.
Memberships and honors
- Fellow of the American Physical Society
- Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- Member of the National Academy of Sciences
- Member of the American Philosophical Society
- Member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
- Associate member of the Neuroscience Research Program
- Research fellow of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation (1959–1966)
- Fellow of the Guggenheim Institute (1965–66)
- Nobel Prize Recipient for Physics (1972)
- Co-winner (with Dr. Schrieffer) of the Comstock Prize in Physics of the National Academy of Sciences (1968)
- Received the Award of Excellence, Graduate Faculties Alumni of Columbia University
- Received the Descartes Medal, Academie de Paris, Université René Descartes.
- Received the John Jay Award of Columbia College (1985)
- Recipient of seven honorary doctorates
See also
In Spanish: Leon N. Cooper para niños
- List of Jewish Nobel laureates
