James Floyd Scott (4 May 1942 – 6 April 2020) was an 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 research director at the

Cavendish Laboratory The Cavendish Laboratory is the Department of Physics at the University of Cambridge, and is part of the School of Physical Sciences. The laboratory was opened in 1874 on the New Museums Site as a laboratory for experimental physics and is named ...

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

. He is considered one of the pioneers of ferroelectric memory devices. He was elected to the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

in 2008.

Biography

James Scott was born in Beverly, New Jersey. He attended high school in New Jersey and graduated from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

in 1963. After receiving his doctorate in physics from

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

(1966) in the field of high resolution molecular

spectroscopy Spectroscopy is the field of study that measures and interprets the electromagnetic spectra that result from the interaction between electromagnetic radiation and matter as a function of the wavelength or frequency of the radiation. Matter wa ...

, he worked for six years in the Quantum Electronics Research Laboratory at

Bell Laboratories Nokia Bell Labs, originally named Bell Telephone Laboratories (1925–1984), then AT&T Bell Laboratories (1984–1996) and Bell Labs Innovations (1996–2007), is an American industrial research and scientific development company owned by mult ...

, New Jersey. In 1972 he was appointed professor of physics at the

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University of Co ...

, Boulder, where he established a research program investigating ferroelectrics using laser spectroscopy. It was here that began his groundbreaking work on "integrated ferroelectrics" — semiconductor chips that incorporate thin ferroelectric memory devices. In 1984 he co-founded Symetrix Corporation to develop ferroelectric RAM (FRAM), which licensed its technology to Matsushita. There followed appointments as Dean at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (1992) and the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensive ...

(1995). In 1997, he worked as a visiting professor in

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of To ...

thanks to an award from

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

and in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

after receiving a

Humboldt Research Award The Humboldt Prize, the Humboldt-Forschungspreis in German, also known as the Humboldt Research Award, is an award given by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of Germany to internationally renowned scientists and scholars who work outside of G ...

. In 1999, when he left Symetrix, he became professor of

ferroics Ferroics is the generic name given to the study of ferromagnets, ferroelectrics, and ferroelastics. Overview The basis of ferroics is to understand the large changes in physical characteristics that occur over a very narrow temperature range. ...

at the

where his research focused on multiferoed magnetoelectrics and nanometric methods. From 2015 he was a joint professor in both chemistry and physics at the

University of St Andrews (Aien aristeuein) , motto_lang = grc , mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best , established = , type = Public research university Ancient university , endowment ...

. James Scott died on 6 April 2020, leaving a wife and three children.

Awards

He was awarded the Materials Research Society gold medal in 2008 and Slovenia's Jožef Stefan gold medal in 2009. He was a member of the

American Physical Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of k ...

from 1974, a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

from 2008, and a member of the

Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts The Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts ( sl, Slovenska akademija znanosti in umetnosti (SAZU)) is the national academy of Slovenia, which encompasses science and the arts and brings together the top Slovene researchers and artists as members o ...

since 2011. In 2014 he was listed by Thomson Reuters as among the most highly cited physicists. In 2016 he was awarded the UNESCO medal for contributions to nanoscience and nanotechnology.

Publications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, James F. 1942 births 2020 deaths People from Beverly, New Jersey Scientists from New Jersey 20th-century American physicists 21st-century American physicists Academics of the University of Cambridge Fellows of the Royal Society Harvard University alumni Ohio State University Graduate School alumni Academic staff of RMIT University University of Colorado Boulder faculty Academic staff of the University of New South Wales