Jainendra K. Jain, a distinguished physicist at Penn State’s Eberly College of Science, has been honored with the 2025 Wolf Prize in Physics for his groundbreaking contributions to quantum matter and topological properties of two-dimensional electron systems in strong magnetic fields.
The Wolf Prize is a prestigious international award recognizing individuals in science and the arts for their contributions to humanity. Jain shares this honor with physicists Mordehai “Moty” Heiblum and James Eisenstein.
Expressing his gratitude, Jain acknowledged the role of his students, collaborators, and researchers in advancing his theory of composite fermions. Reflecting on his journey, he shared his humble beginnings in a small Indian village and the challenges he overcame, including a lifelong disability from an accident. He credited his family, colleagues, and supporters for helping him achieve his dream of becoming a physicist.
Jain’s pioneering work introduced composite fermions, a class of exotic particles that explain the fractional quantum Hall effect. He described composite fermions as electrons bound to quantum vortices, creating a unique quantum state. Under certain conditions, these particles form a superconductor, allowing electricity to flow without energy loss at low temperatures. Jain first proposed this theory during his postdoctoral research at Yale University and continued refining it after joining Penn State in 1998.
Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi praised Jain’s achievement, calling the Wolf Prize one of the highest honors in science and celebrating his impact on condensed matter physics.
Recently, Microsoft cited Jain’s research as a foundation for advancements in quantum computing, demonstrating how theoretical physics can drive technological innovation.
Jain’s career is marked by numerous accolades, including his election to the National Academy of Sciences (2021), appointment as the Eberly Family Chair in Physics (2023), and receipt of the Oliver E. Buckley Prize (2002) from the American Physical Society. He was also honored by the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, as a Distinguished Alumnus (2010).
Celebrating his contributions, Mary Beth Williams, acting dean of Penn State’s Eberly College of Science, emphasized how Jain’s work on composite fermions has fundamentally changed our understanding of condensed matter physics.
