the Rice Thresher

Issue date: 11/21/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Ariel Shnitzer Astronomy and Physics Professor Doug Natelson stands by a function generator in his laboratory. Natelson was named one of the top 20 scientists under 40 by this month's Discover magazine.

Rice has a great number of accomplished professors, but only one has been called the Benjamin Franklin of nanoscience and could potentially be the science adviser to President-elect Barack Obama.

Discover magazine made the connection between the revered figure of the American Revolution and Associate Astronomy and Physics Professor Doug Natelson in its December issue. The magazine named Natelson as one of the Top 20 Scientists under 40 years old.

While disagreeing with the article's comparison to Benjamin Franklin, Natelson said he was honored to receive the recognition for his work in the fields of condensed matter and nanoscale physics.

"It's very flattering," Natelson said. "It's very nice."

Natelson said he was pleasantly surprised by the accolades from Discover magazine but said he was unsure how the magazine staff had heard about his research.

"I have no idea how they got my name," Natelson said. "I kind of asked and they didn't really say. I don't know what their process was at all."

When asked to define condensed matter and nanoscale physics for non-science or engineering majors, Natelson chuckled.

"Condensed matter physics is the en-vogue, modern name for what used to be called solid-state physics," he said.

The name changed in order to convey that solid-state physics includes the study of liquids as well as solids. Nanoscale physics deals with the properties of matter on the nanometer scale. Some of the research done by Natelson includes studying electrical properties of molecules, often at the minute length of two nanometers.

"[That's] 50,000 times narrower than … the proverbial 'human hair,'" he said.

Natelson and his team of researchers have worked with single-molecule devices, shrinking electrical circuits to an extremely miniature scale. Additionally, he said his research on organic superconductors has engendered a buzz among the science community. Natelson's work on the nanoscale earned him him the David and Lucille Packard Fellowship, a grant to do further research in physics, in 2003.

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