One physicist, two Nobel Prizes: remembering John Bardeen
30. January 2011
John Bardeen demonstrates resistance in December 1947 while working at Bell Labs.
Today marks the 20th anniversary of the death of physicist John Bardeen (23 May 1908 – 30 January 1991). Many readers may now be asking: ‘John who …?’
While names such as Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein are familiar to many people, Bardeen is relatively little known outside the scientific community. This is surprising and, in fact, rather unfair: Bardeen was one of the outstanding physicists of the 20th century.
The transistor – the foundation of the digital world
John Bardeen was a solid-state physicist and one of the inventors of the transistor. For this groundbreaking invention, he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1956 together with his colleagues William Bradford Shockley and Walter Houser Brattain of Bell Telephone Laboratories.
The importance of this invention can hardly be overstated: the transistor is the foundation of modern electronics and, with it, the computer age. From computers and smartphones to communication networks, large parts of today’s technological infrastructure ultimately rely on this component.
The theory of superconductivity
Bardeen’s scientific career also included a second exceptional achievement. Working with colleagues in theoretical physics, he developed a quantum-mechanical explanation of superconductivity.
For this work, he received the Nobel Prize in Physics for a second time in 1972. Named after the initials of the three scientists involved – John Bardeen, Leon Neil Cooper and John Robert Schrieffer – BCS theory describes the collective behaviour of electrons in solids and is still regarded as one of the great theoretical achievements of quantum physics.
Unique in the history of physics
John Bardeen remains the only scientist to have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics twice. He also achieved extraordinary results in both experimental and theoretical research, a combination that is rare even among Nobel laureates.
There is also the enormous practical impact of his work: the technological consequences of the development of the transistor continue to shape our everyday lives directly. Without them, modern computers, smartphones and global data networks would be almost unimaginable.
Great achievements – little public recognition
Despite these outstanding contributions, John Bardeen is known to few people outside his field. Public attention is often distributed in ways that do not reflect scientific importance.
Or, to put it another way, how many followers would Bardeen have on social media today? Pop stars reach millions, while scientific pioneers often remain in the background. Yet John Bardeen’s legacy lives on every day, in virtually every electronic device we use.
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