Prof.Jainendra Jain Awarded Wolf Prize In Physics For Groundbreaking Quantum Discoveries
Photo: Penn State
India-West News Desk
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA — Jainendra K. Jain, Professor of Physics at Penn State University, has been awarded the prestigious 2025 Wolf Prize in Physics. Jain shares this honor with two fellow physicists, Mordehai “Moty” Heiblum and James Eisenstein, for their groundbreaking work in understanding quantum matter and its topological potential. The trio was recognized for revolutionizing our understanding of two-dimensional electron systems in strong magnetic fields and their contributions to the fractional quantum Hall effect, a phenomenon that earned the Nobel Prize.
Reflecting on his journey, Jain shared a personal story of resilience and determination in a statement. “Looking back, it is hard to believe how incredibly fortunate I have been. Growing up in a poor village in India, traumatized by an accident that left me on crutches with a lifelong disability, I did not think I would ever walk again or attend college, let alone pursue my dream of becoming a physicist,” Jain said.
Jain’s award-winning work stems from his introduction of composite fermions — a novel class of particles that transformed our understanding of quantum Hall states. In the 1980s, while working as a postdoctoral scholar at Yale University, Jain developed a theory explaining the complex quantum behaviors of electrons trapped in magnetic fields. His theory gave rise to the concept of Jain states, where electrons behave in ways previously thought impossible.
Jain’s research on composite fermions also explored how these exotic particles, under certain conditions, can form superconductors — materials capable of conducting electricity without energy loss at low temperatures. This has opened the door to the theoretical prediction of Majorana particles, which are their own antiparticles and could play a crucial role in future advancements in topological quantum computing.
The Wolf Foundation praised Jain and his co-recipients for their pioneering work, stating that their discoveries have advanced high-performance electronics and enabled ultra-low resistance materials with the potential for revolutionizing quantum computing. “These discoveries reveal complex quantum behaviors, guiding novel materials with revolutionary properties,” the foundation said in its award announcement.
The Wolf Prize, founded in 1975 by the Wolf family, is one of the highest honors in the scientific community. Jain’s win underscores his exceptional contributions to theoretical condensed matter physics, particularly in understanding emergent behaviors of strongly interacting quantum many-body systems.
Before joining Penn State in 1998, Jain was a professor of physics at Stony Brook University. He completed his doctoral studies at Stony Brook University in 1985 and earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in physics in India.
