Marc A. Kastner (born November 20, 1945) is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

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 Donner Professor of Science and the former dean of the

School of Science The Medway School of Science is one of the schools of the University of Greenwich in South East England. The School of Science is based on the university's Medway campus in Chatham Maritime in the county of Kent. The School of Science has act ...

at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology 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 ...

. Currently he is president of the Science Philanthropy Alliance.

Early years

Kastner was born in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, on November 20, 1945. He completed his B.S. in chemistry in 1967, M.S. in 1969 and Ph.D. in physics in 1972 from the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

Academic career

Kastner was a Harvard Research Fellow from 1972 to 1973. He joined the faculty of the

in 1973. He became Donner Professor of Science at MIT in 1989. He was appointed department head in February 1998. He served as the dean of the School of Science at MIT from 2007 to 2013.

Research

Kastner was a researcher on

amorphous semiconductors Amorphous silicon (a-Si) is the non-crystalline form of silicon used for solar cells and thin-film transistors in LCDs. Used as semiconductor material for a-Si solar cells, or thin-film silicon solar cells, it is deposited in thin films onto ...

. His early research focused on the relationship between chemical bonding and the electronic structure of defects in glasses. In 1990, his group at MIT discovered the

single-electron transistor A single-electron transistor (SET) is a sensitive electronic device based on the Coulomb blockade effect. In this device the electrons flow through a tunnel junction between source/drain to a quantum dot (conductive island). Moreover, the electri ...

. It is a device in which electrostatic fields confine electrons to a small region of space inside a semiconductor. Single-electron transistors turn on and off again every time one electron is added. In an interview, he said that the discovery that a transistor could turn on and off again every time an electron was added to it was one of the most astounding and exciting experiences of his life. His recent research focused on the electronic properties of nanometer-size semiconductor structures and on the physics of high temperature (Tc ) superconductivity.

Awards

Kastner received the 1995

David Adler Lectureship Award in the Field of Materials Physics The David Adler Lectureship Award in the Field of Materials Physics is a prize that has been awarded annually by the American Physical Society since 1988. The recipient is chosen for "an outstanding contributor to the field of materials physics, ...

from 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 ...

for his research on semiconductors.

References

External links

CV of Marc A. Kastner

Interview with the dean: Marc Kastner, MIT School of Science

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kastner, Marc A. 1945 births Living people Scientists from Toronto 21st-century American physicists Harvard Fellows Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science faculty Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Prize winners University of Chicago alumni Fellows of the American Physical Society