Leon_Cooper

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Leon Cooper

Leon N. Cooper (né Kupchik; February 28, 1930 –


October 23, 2024) was an American theoretical Leon Cooper
physicist and neuroscientist. He won the Nobel Prize
in Physics for his work on superconductivity. Cooper
developed the concept of Cooper pairs and
collaborated with John Bardeen and John Robert
Schrieffer to develop the BCS theory of conventional
superconductivity.[1][2] In neuroscience, Cooper co-
developed the BCM theory of synaptic plasticity.[3]

Biography Cooper in 2007


Born Leon N. Kupchik
February 28, 1930
Childhood and education New York City, U.S.
Leon N. Kupchick was born in the Bronx, New York Died October 23, 2024 (aged 94)
City on February 28, 1930.[4] His middle initial N. Providence, Rhode Island, U.S.
does not stand for anything, though some sources Alma mater Columbia University (BA, MA, PhD)
erroneously suggested his middle name was Neil.[4]
Known for Cooper pairs
His father Irving Kupchik was from Belarus and BCM theory
moved to the United States after the Russian BCS theory
Revolution in 1917. His mother Anna (née Zola) Awards John Jay Award (1985)
Kupchik was from Poland; she died when Leon was Nobel Prize in Physics (1972)
seven.[4] His father later changed the family's Comstock Prize in Physics (1968)
surname from Kupchick to Cooper when he Scientific career
remarried.[4] Fields Physics

Leon attended the Bronx High School of Science, Institutions Brown University
graduating in 1947[5][6] He then studied at Columbia Thesis Mu-Mesonic Atoms and the
University in nearby Upper Manhattan, receiving a Electromagnetic Radius of the
Bachelor of Arts degree in 1951.[7] He remained at Nucleus (1954)
Columbia for graduate school, obtaining a Master of Doctoral Robert Serber
Arts degree in 1953[7] and a Doctor of Philosophy advisor
(PhD) in 1954.[7][8] His PhD was on the subject of
muonic atoms, with Robert Serber as his thesis advisor.[9][10]

Scientific career
Cooper spent one year as a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. New
Jersey. He then taught at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign and Ohio State University
before joining Brown University in 1958.[8] He would remain at Brown for the rest of his career.

Cooper founded Brown's Institute for Brain and Neural Systems in 1973, becoming its first director.[7] In
1974 he was appointed Professor of Science at Brown, an endowed chair funded by Thomas J. Watson
Sr.[7] Cooper held visiting research positions at various institutions including the Institute for Advanced
Study in Princeton, New Jersey, and at CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) in Geneva,
Switzerland.

Along with colleague Charles Elbaum, he founded the tech company Nestor in 1975, which sought
commercial applications for artificial neural networks.[11][12] Nestor partnered with Intel to develop the
Ni1000 neural network computer chip in 1994.[13]

Personal life
Cooper first married Martha Kennedy, with whom he had two
daughters.[4] In 1969, he married for a second time, to Kay Allard.
[14] He died at his home in Providence, Rhode Island, on October

23, 2024, at the age of 94.[4]

Research

Cooper with his wife, Kay Allard, in


Superconductivity 1972

While Cooper was a postdoc in Princeton, he was approached by


John Bardeen, a professor at the University of Illinois, and
Bardeen's graduate student John Robert Schrieffer. Bardeen and
Schrieffer were working on superconductivity, a topic which was
new to Cooper but he agreed to collaborate with them.
Superconductivity had been experimentally discovered in 1911,
but there was no theoretical explanation for the phenomenon.
Cooper moved to Illinois as a postdoc to work with Bardeen.

After a year of theoretical investigation, Cooper developed the


Plaque at the University of Illinois,
idea of a quasiparticle composed of two bound electrons, now
commemorating the development of
known as a Cooper pair. Cooper published his concept of Cooper the BCS theory of superconductivity
pairs in Physical Review in September 1956.[4][15] The movement
of Cooper pairs through a low-temperature metal would be almost
unimpeded, producing a very low electrical resistance. After further development, Bardeen, Cooper and
Schrieffer showed how this could produce superconductivity, publishing their theory in Physical Reviews
in two papers during 1957.[4][16][17] This theory became known as the BCS theory, after the authors'
initials, and is widely accepted as the explanation for conventional superconductivity. Bardeen, Schrieffer
and Cooper were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1972 for their theory.[4]

Neuroscience
After joining Brown University, Cooper became interested in neuroscience, particularly the process of
learning. In 1982, Cooper and two doctoral students, Elie Bienenstock and Paul Munro, published their
theory of synaptic plasticity in The Journal of Neuroscience.[4] They estimated the weakening and
strengthening of synapses that could occur without saturation of the connections. As synapses saturate,
electrical connections become less effective, thereby reducing the saturation. Connections therefore
oscillate between saturation and unsaturation without reaching their limits. Their theory explained how
the visual cortex works and how people learn to see. It became known as the BCM theory, after the
authors' initials.[4]

Memberships and honors


Fellow of the American Physical Society
Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Member of the National Academy of Sciences
Member of the American Philosophical Society
Member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
Associate member of the Neuroscience Research Program
Research fellow of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation (1959–1966)
Fellow of the Guggenheim Institute (1965–66)
Nobel Prize Recipient for Physics (1972)[7]
Co-winner (with Dr. Schrieffer) of the Comstock Prize in Physics of the National Academy of
Sciences (1968)[18]
Received the Award of Excellence, Graduate Faculties Alumni of Columbia University
Received the Descartes Medal, Academie de Paris, Université René Descartes.
Received the John Jay Award of Columbia College (1985)[7]
Recipient of seven honorary doctorates[7]

Publications
Cooper was the author of Science and Human Experience (http://www.cambridge.org/academic/subjects/
physics/history-philosophy-and-foundations-physics/science-and-human-experience-values-culture-and-
mind?format=HB) – a collection of essays, including previously unpublished material, on issues such as
consciousness and the structure of space. (Cambridge University Press, 2014).

Cooper also wrote an unconventional liberal-arts physics textbook, originally An Introduction to the
Meaning and Structure of Physics (Harper and Row, 1968)[19] and still in print in a somewhat condensed
form as Physics: Structure and Meaning (Lebanon: New Hampshire, University Press of New England,
1992).
Cooper, L. N. & J. Rainwater. "Theory of Multiple Coulomb Scattering from Extended Nuclei"
(https://www.osti.gov/biblio/4404609-theory-multiple-coulomb-scattering-from-extended-nucl
ei), Nevis Cyclotron Laboratories at Columbia University, Office of Naval Research (ONR),
United States Department of Energy (through predecessor agency the Atomic Energy
Commission), (August 1954).
Cooper, Leon N. (1956). "Bound Electron Pairs in a Degenerate Fermi Gas" (https://doi.org/
10.1103%2FPhysRev.104.1189). Physical Review. 104 (4): 1189–1190.
Bibcode:1956PhRv..104.1189C (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1956PhRv..104.1189C).
doi:10.1103/PhysRev.104.1189 (https://doi.org/10.1103%2FPhysRev.104.1189).
Bardeen, J.; Cooper, L. N.; Schrieffer, J. R. (1957). "Microscopic Theory of
Superconductivity" (https://doi.org/10.1103%2FPhysRev.106.162). Physical Review. 106
(1): 162–164. Bibcode:1957PhRv..106..162B (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1957PhRv..
106..162B). doi:10.1103/PhysRev.106.162 (https://doi.org/10.1103%2FPhysRev.106.162).
Bardeen, J.; Cooper, L. N.; Schrieffer, J. R. (1957). "Theory of Superconductivity" (https://do
i.org/10.1103%2FPhysRev.108.1175). Physical Review. 108 (5): 1175–1204.
Bibcode:1957PhRv..108.1175B (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1957PhRv..108.1175B).
doi:10.1103/PhysRev.108.1175 (https://doi.org/10.1103%2FPhysRev.108.1175).
Cooper, L. N., Lee, H. J., Schwartz, B. B. & W. Silvert. "Theory of the Knight Shift and Flux
Quantization in Superconductors" (https://www.osti.gov/biblio/4720526-theory-knight-shift-flu
x-quantization-superconductors), Brown University, United States Department of Energy
(through predecessor agency the Atomic Energy Commission), (May 1962).
Cooper, L. N. & Feldman, D. "BCS: 50 years" (http://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/
10.1142/7728), World Scientific Publishing Co., (November 2010).

See also
List of Jewish Nobel laureates

References
1. "Superconductivity" (http://home.web.cern.ch/about/engineering/superconductivity). CERN
official website. CERN. July 21, 2023.
2. Weinberg, Steven (February 2008). "From BSC to the LHC" (https://cds.cern.ch/record/1734
155). CERN Courier. 48 (1): 17–21.
3. Bienenstock, Elie (1982). "Theory for the development of neuron selectivity: orientation
specificity and binocular interaction in visual cortex" (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl
es/PMC6564292). The Journal of Neuroscience. 2 (1): 32–48. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.02-
01-00032.1982 (https://doi.org/10.1523%2FJNEUROSCI.02-01-00032.1982).
PMC 6564292 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6564292). PMID 7054394 (ht
tps://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7054394).
4. McClain, Dylan Loeb (October 25, 2024). "Leon Cooper Dies at 94; Nobelist Unlocked
Secrets of Superconductivity" (https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/25/science/leon-cooper-de
ad.html). The New York Times. Retrieved October 25, 2024.
5. "Bronx Science Honored as Historic Physics Site by the American Physical Society" (http://w
ww.bxscience.edu/apps/news/show_news.jsp?REC_ID=155179&id=1). bxscience.edu.
Retrieved July 27, 2012.
6. MacDonald, Kerri (October 15, 2010). "A Nobel Laureate Returns Home to Bronx Science"
(https://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/16/nyregion/16nobel.html). The New York Times.
Retrieved July 27, 2012.
7. "Leon Cooper" (http://research.brown.edu/research/profile.php?id=1100923912).
research.brown.edu. Retrieved July 27, 2012.
8. Vanderkam, Laura (July 15, 2008). "From Biology to Physics and Back Again: Leon Cooper"
(http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=biology-physics-cooper-westinghouse).
Scientific American. Retrieved July 27, 2012.
9. "Cooper, Leon N. (Leon Neil), 1930-" (https://history.aip.org/phn/11501007.html).
history.aip.org. Retrieved November 1, 2024.
10. Leon Cooper (https://mathgenealogy.org/id.php?id=14375) at the Mathematics Genealogy
Project
11. Johnson, Colin (October 17, 1988). "Neural Network Startups Proliferate Across The U.S."
(https://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/9841/title/Neural-Network-Startups-Pr
oliferate-Across-The-U-S-/) The Scientist. 2 (19). Retrieved March 8, 2018.
12. Garson, G. David (September 28, 1998). Neural Networks: An Introductory Guide for Social
Scientists (https://books.google.com/books?id=_qiBmnCETgUC&dq=%22Nestor%22+leon+
cooper+1975&pg=PA5). SAGE Publications. ISBN 978-0-7619-5730-0.
13. "Nestor's neural chip destiny now in its own hands" (https://techmonitor.ai/technology/nestor
s_neural_chip_destiny_now_in_its_own_hands). Tech Monitor. April 14, 1994. Retrieved
October 20, 2022.
14. Carey, Charles W. (2014). American Scientists (https://books.google.com/books?id=00r9wa
SNv1cC&pg=PA66). Infobase Publishing. p. 66. ISBN 978-1-4381-0807-0.
15. Cooper, Leon (November 1956). "Bound Electron Pairs in a Degenerate Fermi Gas" (https://
doi.org/10.1103%2FPhysRev.104.1189). Physical Review. 104 (4): 1189–1190.
Bibcode:1956PhRv..104.1189C (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1956PhRv..104.1189C).
doi:10.1103/PhysRev.104.1189 (https://doi.org/10.1103%2FPhysRev.104.1189).
ISSN 0031-899X (https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0031-899X).
16. Bardeen, J.; Cooper, L. N.; Schrieffer, J. R. (April 1957). "Microscopic Theory of
Superconductivity" (https://doi.org/10.1103%2FPhysRev.106.162). Physical Review. 106
(1): 162–164. Bibcode:1957PhRv..106..162B (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1957PhRv..
106..162B). doi:10.1103/PhysRev.106.162 (https://doi.org/10.1103%2FPhysRev.106.162).
17. Bardeen, J.; Cooper, L. N.; Schrieffer, J. R. (December 1957). "Theory of Superconductivity"
(https://doi.org/10.1103%2FPhysRev.108.1175). Physical Review. 108 (5): 1175–1204.
Bibcode:1957PhRv..108.1175B (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1957PhRv..108.1175B).
doi:10.1103/PhysRev.108.1175 (https://doi.org/10.1103%2FPhysRev.108.1175).
18. "Comstock Prize in Physics" (https://web.archive.org/web/20101229195326/http://www.naso
nline.org/site/PageServer?pagename=AWARDS_comstock). National Academy of
Sciences. Archived from the original (http://www.nasonline.org/site/PageServer?pagename=
AWARDS_comstock) on December 29, 2010.
19. Cushing, James T. (1978). "Review of An Introduction to the Meaning and Structure of
Physics by Leon N. Cooper". American Journal of Physics. 46 (1): 114–115.
Bibcode:1978AmJPh..46..114C (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1978AmJPh..46..114C).
doi:10.1119/1.11116 (https://doi.org/10.1119%2F1.11116).

External links
Leon Cooper (https://www.nobelprize.org/laureate/95) on Nobelprize.org including the Nobel
Lecture, December 11, 1972 Microscopic Quantum Interference Effects in the Theory of
Superconductivity
Brown University researcher profile (http://research.brown.edu/research/profile.php?id=1100
923912)
Brown University Physics Department profile (http://www.physics.brown.edu/physics/userpa
ges/faculty/Leon_Cooper/cooper.htm)
Critical Review evaluations (https://www.brown.edu/Students/Critical_Review/modules/CR_
Nav/nav_search.php?edition=All&coursecode=&instructor=Cooper&department=PH&course
title=&submit=Search) of Professor Cooper
Leon Cooper (https://mathgenealogy.org/id.php?id=14375) at the Mathematics Genealogy
Project

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