Peter Littlewood

Peter Littlewood (born 18 May 1955)^[1] is a British physicist who as of April 1, 2014, is the 13th Director of Argonne National Laboratory. He previously headed the Cavendish Laboratory as well as the Theory of Condensed Matter group and the Theoretical Physics Research department at Bell Laboratories.^[2][3][4]

Career

He gained a first-class degree in Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge in 1976, and was then awarded a Kennedy Scholarship to work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for two years.^[5] He returned to Cambridge in 1977 to complete his PhD.^[5]

Between 1980 and he worked at Bell Labs, finishing his time there as head of the theoretical physics research after assuming the position in 1992.^[6][5] He continued to be a member of technical staff until 2001.^[5]

In 1997, he became a professor at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge, and was head of the Theory of Condensed Matter group, and served as Matthias Scholar at Los Alamos National Laboratory during a 2003-04 sabbatical.^[6] In 2005, he returned to Cambridge to become head of the Cavendish Laboratory, before being named in 2011 the Associate Laboratory Director for Physical Sciences and Engineering at the Argonne National Laboratory.^[6] On March 25, 2014, Littlewood was named the Director of Argonne National Laboratory.

Littlewood holds six patents, has published more than 200 articles in scientific journals and has given more than 200 invited talks at international conferences, universities and laboratories.^[6]

Honours and positions

From his curriculum vitae, 2010.^[5]

• Fellow, Royal Society of London, 2007
• Fellow, Institute of Physics, 2005
• Matthias Scholar, Los Alamos National Laboratory, 2003-2004
• Consultant, Los Alamos National Laboratory, 2004-
• Consultant, National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, 2004-
• Fellow, Trinity College Cambridge, 1997
• Fellow, American Physical Society, 1989
• Distinguished Member of Technical Staff, AT&T Bell Laboratories, 1989
• Professeur Associé and Visiting Scientist, CNRS, Grenoble, 1986
• Denman Baynes Student, Clare College, Cambridge 1979-80
• Kennedy Scholar, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1976-77
• Senior Scholar, Trinity College Cambridge, 1974-76

Work

Littlewood's research has variously included studying the phenomenology and microscopic theory of high-temperature superconductors, transition metal oxides and other correlated electronic systems, and the optical properties of highly excited semiconductors. He has applied his methods to engineering, including holographic storage, optical fibers and devices, and new materials for particle detectors.^[5][6]

References