Marin Soljačić (born February 7, 1974) is a

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

n- 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 cau ...

and

electrical engineer Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

and Cecil and Ida Green Professor at physics department, MIT.

Biography

Marin Soljačić was born in

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

in 1974. After graduating from

XV Gymnasium Fifteenth Gymnasium () is a public high school in Zagreb, Croatia. It specializes in mathematics and computer science. It was previously called MIOC (; ) and is still well known under that name. History The school was founded as Fifteenth Mathemat ...

(MIOC) in Zagreb he attended

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...

, where he got his BSc in physics and electrical engineering in 1996. In 1998 he got his MSc from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

and in 2000 he got his PhD in Physics. In 2005 he became a professor of Physics at MIT. In 2008, he was awarded a MacArthur "genius" Fellowship. In 2014, he was awarded Blavatnik National Award, and in 2023 Max Born award of Optica.

Work

In 2007 Marin Soljačić and his assistants successfully made the first efficient non-radiative power transfer at a distance of 2 meters turning on a 60 W

light bulb Electric light is an artificial light source powered by electricity. Electric Light may also refer to: * Light fixture, a decorative enclosure for an electric light source * ''Electric Light'' (album), a 2018 album by James Bay * Electric Light ( ...

. Energy transfer was 40% efficient. Professor Soljačić's experiments and work in wireless energy transfer are related in spirit to the work of

Nikola Tesla Nikola Tesla (;"Tesla"
. ''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. ; 10 July 1856 – 7 ...

in the early 20th century, but also have significant differences: unlike Tesla's long-range wireless energy transfer in Colorado, the Soljačić group focuses only on short-range transfer, and unlike Tesla coils which resonantly transfer power with electric fields (which couple strongly to surrounding matter, most famously inducing artificial lightning) the Soljačić proposal uses coupling primarily via magnetic fields. This work is currently being pursued in Soljačić's WiTricity company. In addition to wireless energy transfer, Prof. Soljačić works on numerous problems on electromagnetism in materials structured on the scale of the wavelength, such as micro- and nano-structured materials for infrared and visible light, including nonlinear optical devices and surface plasmons.

References

External links

BBC article
explaining non-radiative power transfer
TED presentation on technology application
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Soljacic, Marin 1974 births Living people Croatian physicists 21st-century American physicists Croatian emigrants to the United States MacArthur Fellows MIT School of Engineering alumni Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science faculty Scientists from Zagreb 21st-century Croatian scientists Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science alumni