Duncan Haldane is the Sherman Fairchild University Professor of Physics at Princeton University. In 2016, he, along with David J. Thouless and J. Michael Kosterlitz, received the Nobel Prize in Physics “for theoretical discoveries of topological phase transitions and topological phases of matter.” There are many remarkable things about Duncan Haldane, not least his devilishly delightful sense of humor and his ability to playfully take on the most complicated matters. I also admire his intellectual curiosity, humility, and persistence. He is deeply driven by a desire to understand the possibilities of strange—even borderline bizarre—new forms of matter. Despite it taking many decades for his prize-winning work to be confirmed, he never gave up on it. At the same time, though, he never assumed he was right or allowed himself to be swayed by the notion that his brilliance would lead to a revolution in physics—as it has. The very day he learned he’d won the Nobel Prize, he reminded us of what really matters: he went right back to teaching and researching. 

Available on Amazon: Think Like a Nobel Prize Winner 

About Professor Brian Keating:

https://www.youtube.com/drbriankeating

Podcast in iTunes

https://simonsobservatory.org/

https://briankeating.com/

https://bkeating.physics.ucsd.edu/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/drbriankeating/