U.S. Nobel Laureate Appointed as Director of APCT

Professor Robert Laughlin of Stanford University was posted as the director of the Asia Pacific Center for Theoretical Physics (APCTP) at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH).

The Ministry of Science and Technology said on Tuesday that Professor Laughlin was appointed as the three-year term director of the APCTP and distinguished professor of POSTECH.

Professor Laughlin said at a news conference that he would make the center be at the forefront of promoting public awareness about science and that he will utilize the potential value of excellent scientists in the Asia Pacific region and will engage in science publications on the Internet.

Staying in Korea for more than one month a year during his three-year tenure, Professor Laughlin will contribute to the development of science in Korea.

He won the Nobel Prize in physics at the age of 32 in 1998 for the discovery of a new form of quantum fluid with fractionally charged excitations.

The APCTP considers his working there as an opportunity to develop further into a global research center.

The ATCTP was established in 1997 by 10 countries in the Asia Pacific region including Korea, China, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, and Australia, modeling after the International Center for Theoretical Physics in Italy. The operation is funded by the Korean government, POSTECH, and other member states.

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