About the Prize

The annual Prize consists of:

• A stipend of $10,000
• A certificate citing the contributions of the recipient
• A travel allowance for the recipient to attend and deliver the Rahman Lecture at the APS meeting at which the Prize will be presented
• A list of past recipients can be found here

Fundraising Committee

Aneesa Baker, James Freericks, Sharon Glotzer, Michael Klein, Michele Parrinello, Junaid Razvi, Chris Van de Walle, Jack Wells, and Renata Wentzcovitch.

Special thanks to Sidney Yip.

About Aneesur Rahman

Dr. Rahman is known as the father of molecular dynamics. He pioneered the application of computational methods to physical systems. A large number of outstanding scientists recall fondly his unassuming style, passionate engagement with his work, and the sensitivity and personal care he showed towards his colleagues. In 1960, Dr. Rahman began a 25-year tenure as a physicist at the Argonne National Laboratory and in 1985, Dr. Rahman joined the faculty at the University of Minnesota as a professor of physics and fellow at the Supercomputer Institute. His algorithms still form the basis for many codes written today. He earned his undergraduate degree in physics and mathematics from Cambridge University in England and his Ph.D. in theoretical physics from Louvain University in Belgium.

Obituary in Physics Today
IN MEMORIAM: Aneesur Rahman, 1927 - 1987
Aneesur Rahman - A Pioneer in Computational Physics
“Aneesur Rahman and Molecular Dynamics for Real Systems”. Excerpted from Computer Meets Theoretical Physics―The New Frontier of Molecular Simulation, by Giovanni Battimelli, Giovanni Ciccotti, and Pietro Greco (Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020).
Dedication in the Handbook of Materials Modeling, Second Edition (Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020)

Testimonials

"Anees’ personal qualities are legendary among those who knew him. Although a late friend, I am proud to be honoring his memory and his passion for simplicity and sensibility in work and life."

– Sidney Yip

"I am very pleased to be able to contribute to funding the Rahman Prize. I had the privilege to work with Aneesur and wrote several papers with him. I started doing molecular dynamics simulations from a desk of 300 punch cards Aneesur gave me with his basic code. I went through it line by line to understand how it worked. Later I modified his basic code to run on Crays and other super computers."

– Gary S. Grest

"As collaborators, colleagues, friends, and admirers of Aneesur Rahman (1927 – 1987) we declare our appreciation of his pioneering contributions to the development of molecular dynamics simulations. His impact on Computational Physics world-wide has been sustained across generations of research workers, now extending through the emergence of scientific Machine Learning and beyond. We strongly endorse the campaign to endow the Rahman Prize, which commemorates Aneesur Rahman’s human qualities and memorializes his inspirations to future scientific generations. The continuation of this Prize reaffirms the enduring contributions of Computational Physics to science, technology, and society."

– Farid Abraham, Wanda Anderoni, Kurt Binder, Richard Catlow, Giovanni Ciccotti, George Crabtree, Karin Dahmen, Takeshi Egami, Giulia Galli, Jeffrey C. Grossman, Jean-Pierre Hansen, William G. Hoover, Rajiv Kalia, Martin Karplus, Efthimios Kaxiras, Richard Lesar, Ju Li, Yves Limoge, Nicola Marzari, Francesco Mallemace, Horia Metiu, Sidney Nagel, Aiichiro Nakano, Michele Parrinello, John Ray, Matthias Scheffler, Frank H. Stillinger, Khaled Toukan, Priya Vashishta, C. Z. Wang, Sidney Yip