Acclaimed Massey scientist receives prestigious award

Wednesday 1 May 2019
Distinguished Professor Peter Schwerdtfeger has been awarded the Dan Walls medal by the New Zealand Institute of Physics. The award is presented annually to a physicist working in New Zealand for at least ten years who is deemed to have made the greatest impact both nationally and internationally in his or her field of research.
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Distinguished Professor Peter Schwerdtfeger has been awarded the Dan Walls medal by the New Zealand Institute of Physics. The award is presented annually to a physicist working in New Zealand for at least ten years who is deemed to have made the greatest impact both nationally and internationally in his or her field of research.

Professor Peter Schwerdtfeger is the director of the Theoretical Chemistry and Physics Centre and deputy director of the New Zealand Institute for Advanced Study. His research focuses on the fundamental aspects of how atoms and molecules interact with each other using quantum theory which goes beyond the nonrelativistic Schrodinger picture. Professor Schwerdtfeger is a former winner of the Rutherford Medal, New Zealand’s highest scientific award.

The Dan Walls medal is named after late Professor Dan Walls who made outstanding contributions to theoretical physics, in particular to the field of quantum optics. Previous recipients from Massey include Professor Emeritus David Parry, who received the award in 2010.