Daniel C.

Tsui
Daniel Chee Tsui (Chinese: 崔琦; pinyin: Cuī Qí, born
February 28, 1939) is an American physicist. He is Daniel C. Tsui
currently serving as the Professor of Electrical 崔琦
Engineering, emeritus, at Princeton University.[1] 崔琦 (Cuī Qí)
Tsui's areas of research include electrical properties of
thin films and microstructures of semiconductors and
solid-state physics.

Tsui won the Nobel Prize in Physics of 1998 with

Robert B. Laughlin and Horst L. Störmer "for their
discovery of a new form of quantum fluid with
fractionally charged excitations."[2]

Daniel C. Tsui at a dinner honoring Nobel Prize

Biography laureates

Tsui was born into a Chinese agricultural family with Born February 28, 1939
two illiterate parents in Fanzhuang (Henan) ( 范 庄 ), Baofeng, Henan, Republic of
Baofeng, Henan, Republic of China, on February 28, China
1939. Born in the midst of Second World War, Tsui Nationality American
described his early childhood memories as being Citizenship United States
"filled with the years of drought, flood and war which Alma mater University of Chicago (Ph.D.)
were constantly on the consciousness of the inhabitants Augustana College (B.Sc.)
of my over-populated village."[3]
Known for Fractional quantum Hall effect
In 1951, Tsui left for Hong Kong to attend Pui Ching Spouse Linda Varland
Middle School in Kowloon, beginning his formal Children 2
education at the level of sixth grade in his second year
Awards Oliver E. Buckley Condensed
in Hong Kong. Tsui recalled facing difficulties due to
Matter Prize (1984)
his lack of familiarity with Cantonese dialect used.
Nobel Prize in Physics (1998)
Upon graduating in 1957, Tsui was admitted to the Scientific career
National Taiwan University Medical School, but due to Fields Experimental physics
uncertainties over whether he would be able to return Electrical engineering
to his family in China, he remained in Hong Kong to
Institutions Princeton University
enroll in Special Classes Centre, a special two-year
Columbia University
government program intended to prepare high school
Bell Laboratories
graduates for entrance into the University of Hong
Boston University
Kong. While preparing for the entrance examination to
the University of Hong Kong in spring of 1958, Tsui
was awarded a full scholarship to attend Augustana College, his church pastor's Lutheran alma mater in
the United States. Accepting the scholarship, Tsui arrived at Augustana College just after Labor Day of
1958.

After spending three years at Augustana College, Tsui graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1961 as the only
student of Chinese descent in his college. Tsui continued his study in physics at the University of
Chicago, from where he received his Ph.D. in physics in 1967 after completing a doctoral dissertation,
titled "de Haas-van Alphen effect and electronic band structure of nickel", under the supervision of Royal
Stark.[4][5][6] He remarked that due to the influence of prominent Chinese theoretical physicists and
Nobel laureates C. N. Yang and T. D. Lee, both of whom studied at the University of Chicago, he had
always knew that he wanted to pursue graduate studies in physics at the institution.

While a graduate student at the University of Chicago, Tsui met Linda Varland, who was an
undergraduate student there at the time, and the two married after the latter's graduation. Tsui is a
naturalized U.S. citizen. Tsui and Varland have two daughters, Aileen and Judith. Judith graduated magna
cum laude from Princeton University with a B.A. in anthropology in 1991 and is now an associate
professor of medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine.[7][8]

After receiving his Ph.D. and then remaining in Chicago for a year of postdoctoral research, Tsui joined
the research staff at Bell Laboratories to perform research in solid state physics in 1968. At Bell
Laboratories, instead of studying mainstream topics of interest in semiconductor physics such as optics
and high energy band-structures or their applications in devices, Tsui devoted his attention to a new field
called the physics of two-dimensional electrons.

Tsui and Störmer made the groundbreaking discovery of the fractional quantum Hall effect in 1982, while
Laughlin provided a theoretical interpretation for the discovery the following year. This discovery will
eventually be the reason of their winning of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Physics.

Shortly after the discovery, Tsui departed from Bell Laboratories and joined the faculty of the department
of electrical engineering and computer science at Princeton University with the support of two Nobel
laureates in February 1982. After 28 years at Princeton, Tsui transferred to emeritus status in 2010.

He was also an adjunct senior research scientist in the physics department of Columbia University, and a
research professor at Boston University.[9][10]

Tsui is one of the 20 American recipients of the Nobel Prize in Physics to sign a letter addressed to
President George W. Bush in May 2008, urging him to "reverse the damage done to basic science
research in the Fiscal Year 2008 Omnibus Appropriations Bill" by requesting additional emergency
funding for the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, the National Science Foundation, and the
National Institute of Standards and Technology.[11] 2022, Tsui is among only three of Chinese Nobel
laureates who voiced their support for Ukraine.[12][13]

Awards and honors

Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Prize, 1984[14]
Fellow of the American Physical Society, elected 1985[15]
Member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, elected 1987[16]
 Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, elected 1991[17]
Benjamin Franklin Medal in Physics, 1998
Nobel Prize in Physics, 1998
Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, elected 2000[18]
Member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, elected 2004[19]
Foreign Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, elected 2000[20]
Academician of Academia Sinica, Taipei

See also

Physics portal

Biography portal

Quantum hall effect

References
1. "Daniel Chee Tsui | Dean of the Faculty" (https://dof.princeton.edu/about/clerk-faculty/emerit
us/daniel-chee-tsui). Office of the Dean of the Faculty. Retrieved 2020-05-29.
2. "The Nobel Prize in Physics 1998" (https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1998/summar
y/). NobelPrize.org. Retrieved 2020-05-29.
3. "The Nobel Prize in Physics 1998" (https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1998/tsui/biog
raphical/). NobelPrize.org. Retrieved 2020-05-29.
4. Tsui, D. C. (1967). de Haas-van Alphen effect and electronic band structure of nickel (https://
catalog.lib.uchicago.edu/vufind/Record/4137987) (Thesis).
5. Wong, Cheuk-Yin; Lo, James Shui-ip; Lo, Shui-Yin (1999-09-01), "An Open Letter to Daniel
C. Tsui, from Royal W. Stark" (https://www.worldscientific.com/doi/abs/10.1142/9789812385
284_0026), The Joy of the Search for Knowledge, WORLD SCIENTIFIC, pp. 103–107,
doi:10.1142/9789812385284_0026 (https://doi.org/10.1142%2F9789812385284_0026),
ISBN 978-981-02-4036-3, retrieved 2020-05-29
6. Badge, Peter (2007-12-03). Nobel Faces: A Gallery of Nobel Prize Winners (https://books.go
ogle.com/books?id=SRD2K80JYpYC&q=linda+varland&pg=PA400). John Wiley & Sons.
ISBN 978-3-527-40678-4.
7. "Judith Tsui - CV" (https://gim.uw.edu/sites/gim.uw.edu/files/Tsui_CV_2019Dec16.pdf)
(PDF).
8. "Judith Tsui, MD, MPH | Division of General Internal Medicine | University of Washington" (ht
tps://gim.uw.edu/faculty/judith-tsui-md-mph). gim.uw.edu. Retrieved 2020-05-29.
9. "Nobel Laureates » Office of the Provost | Boston University" (https://www.bu.edu/provost/a
wards-publications/faculty-achievement/national-awards-and-distinctions/nobel-laureates/).
www.bu.edu. Retrieved 2017-10-12.
10. Sullivan, Lawrence R.; Liu, Nancy Y. (2015-03-19). Historical Dictionary of Science and
Technology in Modern China (https://books.google.com/books?id=DGCGBwAAQBAJ&q=da
niel+tsui). Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 9780810878556.
11. "A Letter from America's Physics Nobel Laureates" (https://fire.pppl.gov/nobel_bush_fy08_0
50808.pdf) (PDF).
12. "Nobel Laureate Support for Ukraine" (https://www.nlcampaigns.org/ukraine.html).
ukraine.html. Retrieved 2023-03-30.
13. "194位诺贝尔奖得主声援乌克兰 中国没有获奖人签名" (https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataiba
odao/junshiwaijiao/cl-03112022132431.html). rfa. Retrieved 2023-03-30.
14. "1984 Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Physics Prize Recipient" (http://www.aps.org/pro
grams/honors/prizes/prizerecipient.cfm?last_nm=Tsui&first_nm=D.&year=1984).
www.aps.org. Retrieved 2020-05-29.
15. "APS Fellow Archive" (http://www.aps.org/programs/honors/fellowships/archive-all.cfm).
www.aps.org. Retrieved 2020-05-29.
16. "Daniel Tsui" (http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/members/15503.html).
www.nasonline.org. Retrieved 2020-05-29.
17. "Elected Fellows" (https://www.aaas.org/fellows/listing). American Association for the
Advancement of Science. Retrieved 2020-05-29.
18. "Daniel C. Tsui" (https://www.amacad.org/person/daniel-c-tsui). American Academy of Arts &
Sciences. Retrieved 2020-05-29.
19. "Dr. Daniel C. Tsui" (https://nae.edu/27799/Dr-Daniel-C-Tsui). NAE Website. Retrieved
2020-05-29.
20. "Princeton Announcements (Jul-Dec 2000)" (http://www.princeton.edu/webannounce/Princet
on_Announcements/Archived/2000/JUL-DEC_Text.html). www.princeton.edu. Retrieved
2020-05-29.

External links
Daniel C. Tsui (https://www.nobelprize.org/laureate/157) on Nobelprize.org including the
Nobel Lecture, December 8, 1998 Interplay of Disorder and Interaction in Two-Dimensional
Electron Gas in Intense Magnetic Fields
Faculty page at Princeton University (https://web.archive.org/web/20090302174910/http://w
ww.ee.princeton.edu/people/Tsui.php)
Faculty emeritus page at Princeton University (https://dof.princeton.edu/about/clerk-faculty/e
meritus/daniel-chee-tsui)

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