Prize Recipient

David Matthew Ceperley
University of Illinois - Urbana

Citation:

"For important and deep methodological contributions to computational physics, and for highly significant research using those methods in multiple areas of physics."

Background:

Dr. Ceperley received his BS degree in physics from the University of Michigan in 1971 and his Ph.D. in physics from Cornell University in 1976. After two years of postdoctoral work at Rutgers University, he worked as a staff scientist at both Lawrence Berkeley and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories. In 1987 he joined the faculty at the University of Illinois where he is a professor of physics. Dr. Ceperley is also applications coordinator and a staff scientist at NCSA.

Dr. Ceperley's work can broadly be classified into technical contributions to quantum Monte Carlo methods and contributions to our physical or formal understanding of quantum many-body systems. His most important contribution is his calculation of the energy of the electron gas, providing basic input for most numerical calculations of electronic structure. He was one of the pioneers in the development and application of Path Integral Monte Carlo methods for quantum systems at finite temperature such as superfluid helium and hydrogen under extreme conditions.

Dr. Ceperley is a Fellow of the APS and a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 1994 he received the Feenberg Award for Many-Body Physics.

Selection Committee:

David P Landau (Chair), Robert L Sugar, Steven G Louie, Gary D Doolen, Malvin H Kalos