Leon Cooper

Leon Cooper
Cooper in 2007
Born
Leon N. Kupchik

(1930-02-28)February 28, 1930
New York City, U.S.
DiedOctober 23, 2024(2024-10-23) (aged 94)
Providence, Rhode Island, U.S.
EducationColumbia University (BA, MA, PhD)
Known for
Spouse
Kay Allard
​
(m. 1969)​
Awards
Scientific career
Fields
WorkplacesBrown University
ThesisMu-mesonic atoms and the electromagnetic radius of the nucleus (1954)
Robert Serber

Leon N. Cooper (né Kupchik; February 28, 1930 – October 23, 2024) was an American theoretical physicist and neuroscientist who shared the 1972 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. In neuroscience, Cooper co-developed the BCM theory of synaptic plasticity.

Early life and education

Leon N. Kupchick was born on February 28, 1930 in The Bronx, New York City. His father, Irving Kupchik, was from Belarus and moved to the United States after the Russian Revolution in 1917. His mother, Anna Zola, was from Poland; she died when Leon was seven. His father changed the family's surname from Kupchick to Cooper when he remarried.

Leon attended the Bronx High School of Science, graduating in 1947. He then studied at Columbia University, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1951. He remained at Columbia for graduate school, receiving a Master of Arts in 1953 and a Doctor of Philosophy the following year. His doctoral thesis was on the subject of muonic atoms and the charge radius.

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 and Ohio State University before joining Brown University in 1958. 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. In 1974 he was appointed Professor of Science at Brown, an endowed chair funded by Thomas J. Watson Sr. 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.[citation needed]

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

Research

Superconductivity

Plaque at the University of Illinois, commemorating the development of the BCS theory of superconductivity

While Cooper was a postdoc at 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 idea of a quasiparticle composed of two bound electrons, now known as a Cooper pair. Cooper published his concept of Cooper pairs in Physical Review in September 1956. 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. 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.

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. 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.

Personal life

Cooper with his wife, Kay Allard, in 1972

Cooper first married Martha Kennedy, with whom he had two daughters. In 1969, he married for a second time, to Kay Allard. He died at his home in Providence, Rhode Island, on October 23, 2024, at the age of 94.

Recognition

Awards

Year Organization Award Citation Ref.
1968 National Academy of Sciences Comstock Prize in Physics —
1972 Swedish Academy of Sciences Nobel Prize in Physics "For their [Cooper, John Bardeen, and John Robert Schrieffer] jointly developed theory of superconductivity, usually called the BCS-theory."
1985 Columbia University John Jay Award —

Memberships

Year Organization Type Ref.
1973 American Philosophical Society Member
1974 American Academy of Arts and Sciences Member
1975 National Academy of Sciences Member

Honorary degrees

Year University Degree Ref.
1973 University of Sussex Doctor of Science
1974 Brown University Doctor of Science
1976 Ohio State University Doctor of Science

Publications

Cooper was the author of Science and Human Experience – 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) and still in print in a somewhat condensed form as Physics: Structure and Meaning (Lebanon: New Hampshire, University Press of New England, 1992).

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ His middle initial N. does not stand for anything, though some sources erroneously suggested his middle name was Neil.

References

  1. 1 2 "Cooper, Leon N." American Institute of Physics. Archived from the original on December 9, 2025. Retrieved November 1, 2024.
  2. ↑ "Superconductivity". CERN official website. CERN. July 21, 2023.
  3. ↑ Weinberg, Steven (February 2008). "From BSC to the LHC". CERN Courier. 48 (1): 17–21.
  4. ↑ Bienenstock, Elie (1982). "Theory for the development of neuron selectivity: orientation specificity and binocular interaction in visual cortex". The Journal of Neuroscience. 2 (1): 32–48. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.02-01-00032.1982. PMC 6564292. PMID 7054394.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 McClain, Dylan Loeb (October 25, 2024). "Leon Cooper Dies at 94; Nobelist Unlocked Secrets of Superconductivity". The New York Times. Retrieved October 25, 2024.
  6. ↑ "Bronx Science Honored as Historic Physics Site by the American Physical Society". bxscience.edu. Retrieved July 27, 2012.
  7. ↑ MacDonald, Kerri (October 15, 2010). "A Nobel Laureate Returns Home to Bronx Science". The New York Times. Retrieved July 27, 2012.
  8. 1 2 Vanderkam, Laura (July 15, 2008). "From Biology to Physics and Back Again: Leon Cooper". Scientific American. Retrieved July 27, 2012.
  9. ↑ Cooper, L. N.; Henley, E. M. (1954). Mu-mesonic atoms and the electromagnetic radius of the nucleus (PhD thesis). doi:10.1103/PhysRev.92.801. OCLC 35606342. OL 38548694W.
  10. ↑ Johnson, Colin (October 17, 1988). "Neural Network Startups Proliferate Across The U.S." The Scientist. 2 (19). Retrieved March 8, 2018.
  11. ↑ Garson, G. David (September 28, 1998). Neural Networks: An Introductory Guide for Social Scientists. SAGE Publications. ISBN 978-0-7619-5730-0.
  12. ↑ "Nestor's neural chip destiny now in its own hands". Tech Monitor. April 14, 1994. Retrieved October 20, 2022.
  13. ↑ Cooper, Leon (November 1956). "Bound Electron Pairs in a Degenerate Fermi Gas". Physical Review. 104 (4): 1189–1190. Bibcode:1956PhRv..104.1189C. doi:10.1103/PhysRev.104.1189. ISSN 0031-899X.
  14. ↑ Bardeen, J.; Cooper, L. N.; Schrieffer, J. R. (April 1957). "Microscopic Theory of Superconductivity". Physical Review. 106 (1): 162–164. Bibcode:1957PhRv..106..162B. doi:10.1103/PhysRev.106.162.
  15. ↑ Bardeen, J.; Cooper, L. N.; Schrieffer, J. R. (December 1957). "Theory of Superconductivity". Physical Review. 108 (5): 1175–1204. Bibcode:1957PhRv..108.1175B. doi:10.1103/PhysRev.108.1175.
  16. ↑ Carey, Charles W. (2014). American Scientists. Infobase Publishing. p. 66. ISBN 978-1-4381-0807-0.
  17. ↑ "Comstock Prize in Physics". National Academy of Sciences. Archived from the original on December 29, 2010.
  18. ↑ "Nobel Prize in Physics 1972". NobelPrize.org. Archived from the original on September 19, 2008. Retrieved October 9, 2008.
  19. ↑ "John Jay Awards". Columbia University. Archived from the original on March 14, 2026. Retrieved May 19, 2020.
  20. ↑ "APS Member History". American Philosophical Society. Retrieved May 8, 2026.
  21. ↑ "Leon N. Cooper". American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on February 17, 2026. Retrieved May 8, 2026.
  22. ↑ "Leon N Cooper". National Academy of Sciences. Archived from the original on March 13, 2026. Retrieved May 8, 2026.
  23. ↑ "University of Sussex Honorary Degrees Committee List of Honorary Graduates as at 1 February 2025". University of Sussex. Archived from the original on October 14, 2025. Retrieved May 8, 2026.
  24. ↑ "Honorary Degrees". Brown University. Archived from the original on March 13, 2026. Retrieved May 8, 2026.
  25. ↑ "Honorary Degrees Awarded". Ohio State University. Archived from the original on December 31, 2025. Retrieved May 8, 2026.
  26. ↑ 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. doi:10.1119/1.11116.