ORNL superconductivity researcher wins prize

Oak Ridge National Laboratory researcher Herbert A. Mook Jr. has won the 2012 H. Kamerlingh Onnes Prize, which is awarded for outstanding experiments in the study of superconductivity. He shares this award with O.H. Fischer of the University of Geneva, Switzerland, and T.K. Klapwijk of the California Institute of Technology.

Mook was cited “for several decades of important neutron spectroscopy and diffraction experiments on superconductors, especially those with magnetic tendencies,” an ORNL press release said.

The Onnes Prize, named after the winner of the 1913 Nobel Prize in physics for the discovery and research of superconductivity, is awarded every three years for outstanding experiments in superconductivity, or the absence of electrical resistance in certain materials at extremely cold temperatures.

“Herb Mook’s inclusion in this year’s Onnes Prize is extremely well deserved recognition for a career that has provided the scientific community with valuable insight into the puzzle of high-temperature superconductivity,” said ORNL Director Thom Mason. “Researchers will be building on his discoveries for many years to come.”

The Onnes Prize will be awarded at a ceremonial session of the International Meeting on Superconductivity this summer in Washington, D.C.