Bangladeshi scientist Zahid Hasan appointed visiting professor at MIT

Renowned Bangladeshi scientist M. Zahid Hasan has been appointed Visiting Professor of Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Professor Hasan announced today via his social media account that he will begin teaching classes at MIT in May, focusing on quantum matter and quantum topology. His new role at MIT follows a distinguished career at Princeton University, where he is a Professor of Physics and has led groundbreaking research in the field of quantum physics.

Professor Hasan's achievements include the discovery of the Weyl fermion, a significant finding in physics. First proposed by German physicist Hermann Weyl in 1929, the particle was identified in the laboratory by Hasan and his team 85 years later. This discovery garnered Hasan the Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award in 2021, awarded by the US Department of Energy (DOE) for his significant contributions to national, economic, and energy issues.

In 2024, Professor Hasan reached another milestone by observing quantum effects using Aronov-Bohm interference at relatively high temperatures. This development has the potential to play a crucial role in advancing future technologies, such as high-speed computing and ultra-secure communication systems.

Professor Hasan's journey began in Dhaka, Bangladesh, where he attended Dhanmondi Government Boys High School and later Dhaka College, graduating in 1988. He then moved to the United States to pursue higher education at the University of Texas, where he had the opportunity to work with Nobel laureate physicist Stephen Weinberg. He completed his Ph.D. at Stanford University, where he developed a technique to extract the four quantum numbers of electrons in solid matter.

In addition to his academic work, M. Zahid Hasan has held several prestigious positions, including Eugene Higgins Professor of Physics at Princeton University, Robert H. Dick Fellow, Visiting Miller Professor at UC Berkeley, and Visiting Faculty Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.