David A. Weitz
Encyclopedia
David A. Weitz is a Canadian/American physicist
and Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics & Applied Physics and professor of Systems Biology at Harvard University
. He is the co-director of the BASF Advanced Research Initiative at Harvard, co-director of the Harvard Kavli Institute for Bionano Science & Technology, and director of the Harvard Materials Research Science & Engineering Center. He is best known for his work in the areas of diffusing-wave spectroscopy
, microrheology, microfluidics
, rheology
, fluid mechanics
, interface and colloid science
, colloid chemistry, biophysics
, complex fluids
, soft condensed matter physics, phase transitions, the study of glass
and amorphous solids, liquid crystals, self-assembly
, surface-enhanced light scattering, and diffusion-limited aggregation
. As of December 2008, he has a Hirsch index of 64.
Weitz received his PhD in superconductivity
from Harvard. He then worked as a research physicist at Exxon Research and Engineering for nearly 18 years, leading the Interfaces and Inhomogeneous Materials Group and Complex Fluids Area. He then became a Professor of Physics at the University of Pennsylvania, before moving to Harvard in 1999.
Physicist
A physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...
and Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics & Applied Physics and professor of Systems Biology at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
. He is the co-director of the BASF Advanced Research Initiative at Harvard, co-director of the Harvard Kavli Institute for Bionano Science & Technology, and director of the Harvard Materials Research Science & Engineering Center. He is best known for his work in the areas of diffusing-wave spectroscopy
Diffusing-wave spectroscopy
Diffusing-wave spectroscopy is an optical technique derived from dynamic light scattering that studies the dynamics of scattered light in the limit of strong multiple scattering. It has been widely used in the past to study colloidal suspensions, emulsions, foams, gels, biological media and other...
, microrheology, microfluidics
Microfluidics
Microfluidics deals with the behavior, precise control and manipulation of fluids that are geometrically constrained to a small, typically sub-millimeter, scale.Typically, micro means one of the following features:* small volumes...
, rheology
Rheology
Rheology is the study of the flow of matter, primarily in the liquid state, but also as 'soft solids' or solids under conditions in which they respond with plastic flow rather than deforming elastically in response to an applied force....
, fluid mechanics
Fluid mechanics
Fluid mechanics is the study of fluids and the forces on them. Fluid mechanics can be divided into fluid statics, the study of fluids at rest; fluid kinematics, the study of fluids in motion; and fluid dynamics, the study of the effect of forces on fluid motion...
, interface and colloid science
Interface and colloid science
Interface and colloid science is an interdisciplinary intersection of branches of chemistry, physics, nanoscience and other fields dealing with colloids, heterogeneous systems consisting of a mechanical mixture of particles between 1 nm and 1000 nm dispersed in a continuous...
, colloid chemistry, biophysics
Biophysics
Biophysics is an interdisciplinary science that uses the methods of physical science to study biological systems. Studies included under the branches of biophysics span all levels of biological organization, from the molecular scale to whole organisms and ecosystems...
, complex fluids
Complex fluids
Complex fluids are binary mixtures that have a coexistence between two phases: solid–liquid , solid–gas , liquid–gas and liquid–liquid . They exhibit unusual mechanical responses to applied stress or strain due to the geometrical constraints that the phase coexistence imposes...
, soft condensed matter physics, phase transitions, the study of glass
Glass
Glass is an amorphous solid material. Glasses are typically brittle and optically transparent.The most familiar type of glass, used for centuries in windows and drinking vessels, is soda-lime glass, composed of about 75% silica plus Na2O, CaO, and several minor additives...
and amorphous solids, liquid crystals, self-assembly
Self-assembly
Self-assembly is a term used to describe processes in which a disordered system of pre-existing components forms an organized structure or pattern as a consequence of specific, local interactions among the components themselves, without external direction...
, surface-enhanced light scattering, and diffusion-limited aggregation
Diffusion-limited aggregation
Diffusion-limited aggregation is the process whereby particles undergoing a random walk due to Brownian motion cluster together to form aggregates of such particles. This theory, proposed by Witten and Sander in 1981, is applicable to aggregation in any system where diffusion is the primary means...
. As of December 2008, he has a Hirsch index of 64.
Weitz received his PhD in superconductivity
Superconductivity
Superconductivity is a phenomenon of exactly zero electrical resistance occurring in certain materials below a characteristic temperature. It was discovered by Heike Kamerlingh Onnes on April 8, 1911 in Leiden. Like ferromagnetism and atomic spectral lines, superconductivity is a quantum...
from Harvard. He then worked as a research physicist at Exxon Research and Engineering for nearly 18 years, leading the Interfaces and Inhomogeneous Materials Group and Complex Fluids Area. He then became a Professor of Physics at the University of Pennsylvania, before moving to Harvard in 1999.