Prof. Kam Tuen Law, Chair Professor in the Department of Physics at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), has been elected a 2024 Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS). Upon recommendation by the APS Division of Condensed Matter Physics, Prof. Law was cited “for significant contributions to the theoretical understanding of topological and superconducting materials, including Majorana zero modes and Ising superconductors.”
Prof. Law is a pioneer in the study of Majorana zero modes in topological superconductors. Several of his predictions concerning Majorana zero modes had been tested and verified by experimentalists around the world. In 2015, Prof. Law co-discovered a new type of superconductor, which he named Ising superconductors, with two experimental groups in the Netherlands and the United States. He has since predicted several key properties of Ising superconductors which were verified experimentally. In the past decade, he also made significant contributions to the understanding of many novel superconducting and topological materials.
Prof. Law received his B.Sc. degree from HKUST in 2003 and completed his Ph.D. in Physics at Brown University in 2008. Following his graduation, he worked as a Croucher Postdoctoral Fellow at MIT before joining HKUST in 2011. Over the years, Prof. Law has received several prestigious awards and recognitions. In 2015, he was awarded the Croucher Innovation Award. In 2020, he was named a Hong Kong Research Grants Council Research Fellow. Earlier this year, he received the 2023 Achievement in Asia Award (The Robert T. Poe Prize) from the International Organization of Chinese Physicists and Astronomers. He is also an elected member and served as the Founding President (2018-2021) of the Hong Kong Young Academy of Sciences.
The APS Fellowship Program was created in 1921 for recognizing members who have made advances in physics through original research, innovative applications of physics, or services and leadership. Each year, no more than 0.5% of the APS members are elected for the Fellowship.