Barbara A. Jones (May 28, 1960- Sep 24, 2024) was an American physicist who worked for IBM Research in San Jose, California, in the Quantum Applications group of IBM Quantum. Her research involved the quantum dynamics of magnetic systems.

Education and career

After graduating from Harvard College in 1982, Jones went to the University of Cambridge as a Churchill Scholar to study for

Part III of the Mathematical Tripos Part III of the Mathematical Tripos (officially Master of Mathematics/Master of Advanced Study) is a one-year Masters-level taught course in mathematics offered at the Faculty of Mathematics, University of Cambridge. It is regarded as one of the ...

, earning a master's degree there. She completed a Ph.D. at Cornell University in 1988, with research on the

Kondo model The Kondo model (sometimes referred to as the s-d model) is a model for a single localized quantum impurity coupled to a large reservoir of delocalized and noninteracting electrons. The quantum impurity is represented by a spin-1/2 particle, and i ...

of quantum impurities supervised by Chandra Varma. She became a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard with Bertrand Halperin, working on High-temperature superconductivity, before joining IBM Research in 1989.

Recognition

Jones was elected as a

Fellow of the American Physical Society The American Physical Society honors members with the designation ''Fellow'' for having made significant accomplishments to the field of physics. The following lists are divided chronologically by the year of designation. * List of American Physic ...

(APS) in 2002, after a nomination from the APS Division of Condensed Matter Physics, "for outstanding contributions to theories of impurity magnetism and spin transport in magnetic nanostructures". She has chaired the APS Forum on Industrial Applications of Physics, the APS Division of Condensed Matter Physics, and the APS Committee on the Status of Women in Physics. She was also a Fellow of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...

(AAAS), and had chaired the physics section of the AAAS.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Barbara A. Year of birth missing (living people) American physicists American women physicists Harvard College alumni Alumni of Churchill College, Cambridge Cornell University alumni IBM employees Fellows of the American Physical Society Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science