Antal I. "Tony" Jákli (born 3 October 1958) is a Hungarian-American

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate caus ...

and professor of Chemical Physics at

Kent State University Kent State University (KSU) is a public research university in Kent, Ohio. The university also includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio and additional facilities in the region and internationally. Regional campuses are located in As ...

. He is known for his work with bent-core, flexoelectric, and ferroelectric

liquid crystal Liquid crystal (LC) is a state of matter whose properties are between those of conventional liquids and those of solid crystals. For example, a liquid crystal may flow like a liquid, but its molecules may be oriented in a crystal-like way. T ...

Education and career

Jákli received a

Master of Science A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...

in 1983 and later a Ph.D. in 1986 in

Physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

from

Eötvös Loránd University Eötvös Loránd University ( hu, Eötvös Loránd Tudományegyetem, ELTE) is a Hungarian public research university based in Budapest. Founded in 1635, ELTE is one of the largest and most prestigious public higher education institutions in Hung ...

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

, Hungary. After postdoctoral fellowships with

Alfred Saupe Alfred Saupe (February 14, 1925 – August 3, 2008) was a German Physicist born in Badenweiler, who laid groundbreaking work in the area of liquid crystal studies. Biography Saupe, son of a hotelier, attended elementary school in Badenweiler and ...

at Kent State University from 1989 to 1992 and at the

Max Planck Institute Max or MAX may refer to: Animals * Max (dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog * Max (English Springer Spaniel), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of OBE) * Max (gorilla) (1 ...

in Halle, Germany, from 1993 to 1995, he became a research fellow at the Research Institute for Solid State Physics in Budapest. He was later awarded a D.Sc. from the

Hungarian Academy of Sciences The Hungarian Academy of Sciences ( hu, Magyar Tudományos Akadémia, MTA) is the most important and prestigious learned society of Hungary. Its seat is at the bank of the Danube in Budapest, between Széchenyi rakpart and Akadémia utca. Its ma ...

in 2000. He moved to the United States in 1999 to join the

Liquid Crystal Institute The former Glenn H. Brown Liquid Crystal Institute (LCI) at Kent State University is now renamed the Advanced Materials and Liquid Crystal Institute. The AMLCI is a center of study for liquid crystal technology and education, blending basic and a ...

at Kent State University as a research fellow. He became an assistant professor there in 2004, receiving tenure in 2007 and a promotion to full professorship in 2012.

Research

His current research interests include studies of bent-core and other liquid crystals with reduced symmetry, electrospun responsive fibers and mats,

flexoelectricity Flexoelectricity is a property of a dielectric material whereby it exhibits a spontaneous electrical polarization induced by a strain gradient. Flexoelectricity is closely related to piezoelectricity, but while piezoelectricity refers to polarizati ...

and

piezoelectricity Piezoelectricity (, ) is the electric charge that accumulates in certain solid materials—such as crystals, certain ceramics, and biological matter such as bone, DNA, and various proteins—in response to applied mechanical stress. The word ''p ...

, small-scale rheometry, blue phases, and surface interactions of liquid crystals.

Works

*S. M. Salili, M. G. Tamba, S. N. Sprunt, C. Welch, G. H. Mehl, A. Jákli, J. T. Gleeson, "Anomalous Increase in Nematic-Isotropic Transition Temperature in Dimer Molecules Induced by Magnetic Field", Physical Review Letters, 116 (21), 217801, 2016. . *S. M. Salili, T. Ostapenko, O. Kress, C. Bailey, W. Weissflog, K. Harth, A. Eremin, R. Stannarius, A. Jákli, "Rupture and Recoil of Bent-Core Liquid Crystal Filaments", Soft Matter, 12 (21), 4725–4730, 2016. *H. Shahsavan, S. M. Salili, A. Jákli, B. Zhao, "Smart Muscle-driven Self-cleaning of Biomimetic Microstructures from Liquid Crystal Elastomers", ''Advanced Materials'', vol. 27 (43) p. 6828–6833, 2015. * * * * * A. Jákli, A. Saupe, ''One and Two Dimensional Fluids – Physical Properties of Smectic Lamellar and Columnar Liquid Crystals'' (2006) * * *

Awards

Alfred Saupe Prize Alfred may refer to: Arts and entertainment *'' Alfred J. Kwak'', Dutch-German-Japanese anime television series * ''Alfred'' (Arne opera), a 1740 masque by Thomas Arne * ''Alfred'' (Dvořák), an 1870 opera by Antonín Dvořák *"Alfred (Interl ...

(2020) * Outstanding Research Scholar of Kent State University (2012) * Luckhurst-Samulski Prize 2010 (Taylor & Francis) * Institute for Complex Adaptive Matter-ICAM Track II Postdoctoral Fellowship (2008, 2009) * Library Research Collection Award, Kent State University (2007) * Department of Education (2003) * Bólyai Young Researchers Scholar (1998-1999), Hungarian Academy of Sciences * Outstanding Research Associate, Kent State University (1992) * Young Scientist awards of the Central Research Institute of Physics, Hungary (1986, 1989)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jakli, Antal 1958 births Kent State University faculty Liquid crystals 20th-century Hungarian physicists Hungarian emigrants to the United States Living people 21st-century American physicists