| Authorised form of name | Rice; Thomas Maurice; theoretical physicist |
| Nationality | Irish |
| Place of birth | Dundalk, Ireland |
| Date of birth | 26 January 1939 |
| Place of death | Küsnacht, Switzerland, Europe |
| Date of death | 18 July 2024 |
| Occupation | theoretical physicist |
| Research field | Condensed matter |
| Theoretical physics |
| Activity | Education:
Coláiste Rís, local Christian Brothers school; University College Dublin BA 1959; Cambridge University PhD 1960; University of California, San Diego 1964
Career:
Technician at Bell Labs, Murray Hill, New Jersey (1966-1981); Professor, Institute for Theoretical Physics, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule, Zürich, Switzerland (1981); retired from teaching (2004); Emeritus Professor at Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (2004-2024).
Awards/Medals:
Hewlett-Packard Europhysics Prize 1998
John Bardeen Prize (for superconductivity theory) 2000
Honorary Member of the Royal Irish Academy
Member of the US National Academy of Sciences |
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 13/05/2002 |
| RSActivity | Royal Society Roles:
Sectional Committee 2: Astronomy and physics 2006-2009 |
| Relationships | Parents: James and Maureen Rice.
Siblngs: Peter Rice, structural engineer
Spouse: Helen D. Spreiter (m. 22 July 1966).
Children: Peter, Susan, Margrit. |
| PublishedWorks | RCN R69938 |
| OtherInfo | Made important theoretical contributions to our understanding of the electronic properties of materials.
His work was distinguished by fruitful cross-fertilisation between theory and experiment, spanning a wide range.
The Mott metal-insulator transition and the correlated metallic state in its vicinity, the electron-hole liquid in optically pumped semiconductors, properties of metals with charge and spin density wave order, and unconventional superconducting states in rare earth and transition metal compounds are some of the areas where his contributions have been pioneering.
He played a key role in determining the effective low-energy model for high-temperature superconductors and the identification of the symmetry of superconductive order in them. |
| Source | The Royal Society Fellows Directory, [URL: https://royalsociety.org/people/thomas-rice-12174/; last accessed: 12/02/2025]
MaNEP Switzerland Network, 28 November 2024, Manfred Sigrist, Gianni Blatter and Bertram Batlogg, Tribute to the memory of Maurice Rice, [URL: https://manep.ch/news/people/tribute-to-the-memory-of-maurice-rice/; last accessed: 12/02/2025] |
| Code | NA8485 |
Archives associated with this Fellow
| RefNo | Title | Date |
| EC/2002/34 | Rice, Thomas Maurice: certificate of election to the Royal Society | |
| IM/003805 | Rice, Thomas Maurice | 2002 |