Bangladesh-born scientist M Zahid Hasan to receive US Department of Energy award

The US Department of Energy (DOE) will confer the Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award on Bangladesh-born scientist M Zahid Hasan.

He is also Princeton University's Eugene Higgins Professor of Physics.

The Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award was established in 1959 and honours mid-career US scientists and engineers for exceptional contributions in research and development in support of DOE's mission to advance the national, economic and energy security of the nation.

M Zahid Hasan is known for his pioneering research on quantum matter exhibiting topological and emergent properties.

The Office of Communications of Princeton University issued a press release in this regard on January 13.

"I am quite honoured and humbled to receive this award, as EO Lawrence was one of my scientific heroes," Hasan said.

"Lawrence's invention of the cyclotron led to modern high-energy accelerator technology that I use in my research to explore topological states of quantum matter. I am also very grateful to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory for supporting my research leading to this award."

Hasan was honoured in the area of condensed matter and materials sciences for "experiments using advanced spin-angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy which led to seminal discoveries of new phases of matter and new fermionic quasiparticles," according to Princeton University's press release.