Allan H. MacDonald is a theoretical condensed matter physicist and the Sid W. Richardson Foundation Regents Chair Professor of Physics at

The University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

. He was born in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada, and attended local schools completing a B.S. at St. Francis Xavier University in 1973. He completed his Ph.D.in physics at The University of Toronto in 1978, working wit
S.H. Vosko
on relativistic generalizations of density functional theory, and on the application of density functional theory to magnetism in metals. Prior to joining the University of Texas, he worked at the Ottawa laboratory of the National Research Council of Canada (1978-1987) and at Indiana University (1987-2000). He has held visiting positions at the

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (colloquially) , former_name = eidgenössische polytechnische Schule , image = ETHZ.JPG , image_size = , established = , type = Public , budget = CHF 1.896 billion (2021) , rector = Günther Dissertori , president = Joël Mesot , a ...

and the Max Plank Institute for Solid State Research in Stuttgart. MacDonald's research has focused on new or unexplained phenomena related to the quantum physics of interacting electrons in materials. He has contributed to theories of the integer and fractional Quantum Hall effects,

spintronics Spintronics (a portmanteau meaning spin transport electronics), also known as spin electronics, is the study of the intrinsic spin of the electron and its associated magnetic moment, in addition to its fundamental electronic charge, in solid-st ...

in metals and semiconductors, topological Bloch bands and momentum-space Berry curvature phenomena, correlated electron-hole fluids and exciton and polariton condensates, and

two-dimensional materials In materials science, the term single-layer materials or 2D materials refers to crystalline solids consisting of a single layer of atoms. These materials are promising for some applications but remain the focus of research. Single-layer materials ...

. In 2011 MacDonald and

Rafi Bistritzer Rafi Bistritzer (born 1974 in Israel) is an Israeli physicist, and manager of an algorithms group at Applied Materials. He is the winner of the 2020 Wolf Prize in Physics, together with Pablo Jarillo-Herrero and Alan MacDonald, for “pioneering ...

, a former postdoctoral researcher in MacDonald's lab, predicted that it would be possible to realize strong correlation physics in graphene bilayers twisted to a magic relative orientation angle, foreshadowing the field of

twistronics Twistronics (from ''twist'' and ''electronics'') is the study of how the angle (the twist) between layers of two-dimensional materials can change their electrical properties. Materials such as bilayer graphene have been shown to have vastly differ ...

Pablo Jarillo-Herrero Pablo Jarillo-Herrero (born June 11, 1976, in Valencia) is a Spanish physicist and current Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Biography Jarillo-Herrero received in 1999 his Licenciatura ...

, an experimentalist at

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...

, found that the magic angle resulted in the unusual electrical properties the UT Austin scientists had predicted. At 1.1 degrees rotation at sufficiently low temperatures, electrons move from one layer to the other, creating a lattice and the phenomenon of superconductivity. The magic angle allows electrical current to pass unimpeded, apparently without energy loss. This could lead to more efficient electrical power transmission or new materials for quantum applications. His recent work is focused on anticipating new physics in moire superlattices, and on achieving a full understanding of magic-angle bilayer graphene and transition-metal dichalcogenide moire superlattice systems. MacDonald received the Canadian Association of Physicists's Herzberg Medal in 1987, the Oliver E. Buckley Prize of the American Physical Society in 2007, the Ernst Mach Honorary Medal of the Czech Academy of Sciences in 2012, and the

Wolf Prize in Physics The Wolf Prize in Physics is awarded once a year by the Wolf Foundation in Israel. It is one of the six Wolf Prizes established by the Foundation and awarded since 1978; the others are in Agriculture, Chemistry, Mathematics, Medicine and Arts. ...

in 2020. He was elected to the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...

in 2005 and the

National Academy of the Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

in 2012.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:MacDonald, Allan H. 1951 births Living people People from Antigonish, Nova Scotia Canadian condensed matter physicists 21st-century American physicists St. Francis Xavier University alumni University of Toronto alumni University of Texas at Austin faculty Fellows of the American Physical Society Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Wolf Prize in Physics laureates Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Prize winners