Prof. Jainendra K. Jain

(MSC2/PHY/1981)

Prof. Jainendra K. Jain (MSc2/PHY/1981) is a distinguished physicist and one of the world's leading researchers in strongly correlated quantum systems. He currently serves as the Evan Pugh University Professor and Eberly Chair in Physics at Pennsylvania State University, USA, and is the Founding Director of the Center for Theory of Emergent Quantum Matter (C-TEQ). Internationally renowned for discovering composite fermions, Prof. Jain has transformed our understanding of the fractional quantum Hall effect and established a powerful framework for studying strongly interacting quantum systems.

Profile

Prof. Jain earned his Bachelor's degree in Physics from Maharaja College, Rajasthan University, Jaipur, in 1979 and completed his Master's degree in Physics from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur in 1981. He received his Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics from Stony Brook University in 1985.

Following postdoctoral research at the University of Maryland and Yale University, he joined the faculty of Stony Brook University as an Assistant Professor of Physics in 1989. In 1998, he joined Pennsylvania State University as the inaugural Erwin W. Mueller Professor of Physics. He was appointed Evan Pugh University Professor in 2012, the highest faculty distinction conferred by the university, and was named Eberly Chair in Physics in 2023.

Prof. Jain's research focuses on quantum condensed matter theory, particularly the physics of strongly interacting electrons in low-dimensional systems. His most influential contribution - the theory of composite fermions - provided a remarkably successful explanation of the fractional quantum Hall effect, one of the most important discoveries in modern condensed matter physics. The theory has fundamentally transformed the understanding of quantum matter and continues to guide research in strongly correlated systems and emerging quantum technologies.

Prof. Jain has supervised nearly 40 Ph.D. students and postdoctoral researchers, co-authored more than 250 scholarly publications, authored the acclaimed monograph Composite Fermions (Cambridge University Press, 2007), and co-edited Fractional Quantum Hall Effects: New Developments (World Scientific, 2020). He is a recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award, 2010 from IIT Kanpur.


(Prof. Jainendra K Jain receiving the Wolf Prize in 2026)

Awards and Honours

• Penn State Honorary Alumni Award, 2026
• Wolf Prize in Physics, 2025 (shared with Prof. Moty Heiblum and Prof. James Eisenstein)
• Foreign Fellow, Indian National Science Academy, 2024
• Eberly Family Chair, Pennsylvania State University, 2023
• Member, U.S. National Academy of Sciences, 2021
• Infosys Visiting Chair Professor, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, 2015-2019
• Raman Professor, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, 2015-2016
• Sir J. C. Bose Visiting Chair Professor, IISER Pune, 2015
• DST-IISc Centenary Visiting Chair Professor, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, 2013-2015
• Evan Pugh University Professor, Pennsylvania State University, 2012
• Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2012
• Distinguished Alumni Award, IIT Kanpur, 2010
• Distinguished Scholar Prize, American Chapter of Indian Physics Association, 2008
• Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2008
• Distinguished Postdoctoral Alumnus Award, University of Maryland, 2004
• Oliver E. Buckley Prize, American Physical Society, 2002
• Erwin W. Mueller Professor of Physics, Pennsylvania State University, 1998
• Fellow, American Physical Society, 1997
• John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, 1996
• Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship, 1991