Physics Nobel Laureate, Chemistry Professor, Engineering Leader Honored by Alumni
Nobel laureate Horst L. Störmer, who holds joint appointments as professor of applied physics and I.I. Rabi Professor of Physics,was one of three Columbians honored by the Columbia Engineering School Alumni Association at the Association’s Annual Awards Dinner on Nov. 11. He and Harry B. Gray, former professor of chemistry at Columbia and currently Beckman Professor of Chemistry at California Institute of Technology, received the Pupin Medal for service to the nation in engineering, science or technology. SEAS alumnus Matthys Levy MS’56, former chairman of Weidlinger Associates, received the Egleston Medal, given annually for distinguished engineering achievement.
From left to right, Nobel Laureate Horst L. Störmer, SEAS professor of applied physics and I.I. Rabi Professor of Physics, and Harry B. Gray, Beckman Professor of Chemistry at California Institute of Technology, received the Pupin Medal; Matthys Levy MS‘56, former chairman of Weidlinger Associates, received the Egleston Medal.
University President Lee C. Bollinger presented the Pupin Medals to Professors Störmer and Gray. The Pupin Medal was established in 1958 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Michael Pupin, the legendary professor of electromechanics at Columbia from 1901 to 1931.
Gray was recognized for pioneering contributions in the field of electron transfer in metalloproteins, providing an understanding of the pri n c iples governing biological electron flow.He was cited for “contributing insights applicable to such vital biological processes as respiration, photosynthesis, and nitrogen fixation; and for leadership as the first director of the interdisciplinary Beckman Institute.”
Störmer, who joined Columbia in 1998 after 20 years at AT&T’s Bell Labs, is scientific director of Columbia’s NSF Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center (NSEC), where he conducts research into the electrical conductivity of single molecules. In 1998, he shared the Nobel Prize in physics for his part in the “discovery of a new form of quantum fluid with fractionally charged excitations.” In addition to his scientific achievements, he was cited for his outstanding teaching of future applied physicists and physicists at Columbia.
Egleston Medalist Matthys Levy is the chairman emeritus of Weidlinger Associates, a leading structural engineering and applied mechanics consulting firm. He headed Weidlinger’s architectural engineering group and has designed such unprecedented structural systems as the Georgia Dome Stadium in Atlanta, the Javits Convention Center and the Rose Center for Earth and Space in New York City, La Plata Stadium in Argentina, the Schalke Stadium Retractable Dome in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, and the Bank of China headquarters in Beijing.
