View source for John Bardeen

{{Short description|American condensed matter physicist (1908–1991)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2021}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = John Bardeen
| image             = Bardeen.jpg
| caption           = Bardeen in 1956
| birth_date        = {{Birth date|1908|05|23}}
| birth_place       = [[Madison, Wisconsin]], US
| death_date        = {{Death date and age|1991|01|30|1908|05|23}}
| death_place       = [[Boston]], [[Massachusetts]], US
| resting_place     = [[Forest Hill Cemetery (Madison, Wisconsin)|Forest Hill Cemetery]], Madison, Wisconsin
| education         = [[Wisconsin High School]]
| alma_mater        = {{Indented plainlist|
* [[University of Wisconsin]] ([[Bachelor of Science|BS]], [[Master of Science|MS]])
* [[Princeton University]] ([[PhD]])}}
| known_for         = {{Indented plainlist|
* [[Point-contact transistor]]
* [[BCS theory]]}}
| spouse            = {{Marriage|Jane Maxwell|1938}}
| children          = 3, including [[James M. Bardeen|James]] and [[William A. Bardeen|William]]
| father            = [[Charles Russell Bardeen]]
| awards            = {{Indented plainlist|
* [[Stuart Ballantine Medal]] (1952)
* [[Oliver E. Buckley Prize]] (1954)
* [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] (1956, 1972)
* [[Fritz London Memorial Prize]] (1962)
* [[National Medal of Science]] (1965)
* [[IEEE Medal of Honor]] (1971)
* [[Franklin Medal]] (1975)
* [[Presidential Medal of Freedom]] (1977)
* [[Lomonosov Gold Medal]] (1987)
* [[Harold Pender Award]] (1988)}}
| fields            = [[Condensed matter physics]]
| work_institutions = {{Indented plainlist|
* [[Harvard University]] (1935–1938)
* [[University of Minnesota]] (1938–1941)
* [[Naval Ordnance Laboratory]] (1941–1945)
* [[Bell Laboratories]] (1945–1951)
* [[University of Illinois]] (1951–1975)}}
| doctoral_advisor  = [[Eugene Wigner]]
| doctoral_students = {{Indented plainlist|
* [[Nick Holonyak]] (1954)<ref name=MGP>{{Cite web|title=John Bardeen|url=https://www.genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/id.php?id=42856|work=[[Mathematics Genealogy Project]]|publisher=North Dakota State University|access-date=2025-06-23}}</ref>
* [[Robert Schrieffer]] (1957)
* [[William L. McMillan]] (1964)<ref name=MGP/>}}
| footnotes         = He is the only person to have won the Nobel Prize in Physics twice
}}

'''John Bardeen''' (May 23, 1908 – January 30, 1991)<ref name=formemrs>{{Cite journal | last1 = Pippard | first1 = B. | author-link = Brian Pippard| doi = 10.1098/rsbm.1994.0002 | title = John Bardeen. 23 May 1908–30 January 1991 | journal = [[Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society]] | volume = 39 | pages = 20–34| year = 1994 | s2cid = 121943831 }}</ref> was an American [[condensed matter physicist]]. He is the only person to be awarded the [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] twice:<ref>https://www.invent.org/inductees/john-bardeen</ref> first in 1956 with [[William Shockley]] and [[Walter Brattain]] for their invention of the [[transistor]]; and again in 1972 with [[Leon Cooper]] and [[Robert Schrieffer]] for their microscopic theory of [[superconductivity]], known as the [[BCS theory]].<ref>[[Lillian Hoddeson|Hoddeson, Lillian]] and Vicki Daitch. ''True Genius: the Life and Science of John Bardeen''. National Academy Press, 2002. {{ISBN|0-309-08408-3}}</ref>

Born and raised in [[Wisconsin]], Bardeen earned both his bachelor's and master's degrees in electrical engineering from the [[University of Wisconsin–Madison|University of Wisconsin]], before receiving a Ph.D. in physics from [[Princeton University]]. After serving in [[World War II]], he was a researcher at [[Bell Labs]] and a professor at the [[University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign|University of Illinois]].

The transistor revolutionized the [[electronics industry]], making possible the development of almost every modern electronic device, from [[telephone]]s to [[computer]]s, and ushering in the [[Information Age]]. Bardeen's developments in superconductivity—for which he was awarded his second Nobel Prize—are used in [[nuclear magnetic resonance]] spectroscopy (NMR), medical [[magnetic resonance imaging]] (MRI), and superconducting [[quantum circuit]]s.

Bardeen is the first of only three people to have won multiple Nobel Prizes in the same category (the others being [[Frederick Sanger]] and [[Karl Barry Sharpless]] in chemistry), and one of five persons with [[:Category:Nobel laureates with multiple Nobel awards|two Nobel Prizes]]. In 1990, Bardeen appeared on ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine's list of "100 Most Influential Americans of the Century."<ref name="washpost">{{cite news |date=January 31, 1991 |title=John Bardeen, Nobelist, Inventor of Transistor, Dies |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-1047095.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121102062647/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-1047095.html |archive-date=November 2, 2012 |access-date=August 3, 2007 |newspaper=Washington Post}}</ref>

== Education ==
John Bardeen was born on May 23, 1908, in [[Madison, Wisconsin]], the son of [[Charles Russell Bardeen]], the first dean of the [[University of Wisconsin Medical School]], and Althea Harmer.<ref name="Biography of John Bardeen">{{cite web |url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1956/bardeen-bio.html |title=Biography of John Bardeen |access-date=November 1, 2007 |publisher=The Nobel Foundation }}</ref>

Bardeen attended [[University of Wisconsin High School]] in Madison, graduating in 1923 at age 15;<ref name="Biography of John Bardeen"/> he could have graduated several years earlier, but this was postponed because he took courses at another high school and because of his mother's death. Bardeen entered the [[University of Wisconsin–Madison|University of Wisconsin]] in 1923. While in college, he joined the [[Zeta Psi]] fraternity. He raised a part of the needed membership fees by playing billiards. Bardeen was initiated as a member of [[Tau Beta Pi]] engineering honor society. Not wanting to be an academic like his father, Bardeen chose engineering. He also felt that engineering had good job prospects.<ref name="John Bardeen 1">{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/transistor/album1/bardeen/index.html |title=Biography of John Bardeen 1 |access-date=December 24, 2007 |publisher=PBS}}</ref>

Bardeen received his [[B.S.]] in Electrical Engineering in 1928 from the University of Wisconsin.<ref name="CV of Bardeen">{{cite web |url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1972/bardeen-cv.html |title=Curriculum Vitae of John Bardeen| access-date=November 1, 2007 |publisher = The Nobel Foundation }}</ref> Despite taking a year off to work in Chicago, he graduated in 1928.<ref name="genius in action">{{cite web |url=http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/print/17406 |title=John Bardeen: genius in action |access-date=January 7, 2008 |author=David Pines |date=May 1, 2003 |publisher=physicsworld.com |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071020192456/http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/print/17406 <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = October 20, 2007}}</ref> Taking all the graduate courses in physics and mathematics that had interested him, Bardeen graduated in five years instead of the usual four. This allowed him time to complete his master's thesis, supervised by Leo J. Peters. He received his [[M.S.]] in Electrical Engineering in 1929 from Wisconsin.<ref name=mathgene>{{MathGenealogy|id=42856}}</ref><ref name="CV of Bardeen"/>

Bardeen furthered his studies by staying on at Wisconsin, but he eventually went to work for [[University of Pittsburgh Applied Research Center|Gulf Research Laboratories]], the research arm of the [[Gulf Oil]] Corporation that was based in [[Pittsburgh]].<ref name="washpost"/> From 1930 to 1933, Bardeen worked there on the development of methods for the interpretation of magnetic and gravitational surveys.<ref name="Biography of John Bardeen"/> He worked as a geophysicist. After the work failed to keep his interest, he applied and was accepted to the graduate program in mathematics at [[Princeton University]].<ref name="John Bardeen 1"/>

As a graduate student, Bardeen studied mathematics and physics. Under the physicist [[Eugene Wigner]], he wrote his thesis on a problem in [[solid-state physics]]. Before completing his thesis, he was offered a position as junior fellow of the [[Harvard Society of Fellows|Society of Fellows at Harvard University]] in 1935. He spent the next three years there, from 1935 to 1938, working with to-be Nobel laureates in Physics [[John Hasbrouck van Vleck]]<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bardeen |first=J. |date=1980 |title=Reminiscences of Early Days in Solid State Physics |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Mathematical and Physical Sciences |volume=371 |issue=1744 |pages=77–83 |doi=10.1098/rspa.1980.0059 |jstor=2990278 |bibcode=1980RSPSA.371...77B |s2cid=121788084 |issn=0080-4630}}</ref> and [[Percy Williams Bridgman]] on problems in cohesion and electrical conduction in metals—and also did some work on level density of nuclei. He received his [[Doctor of Philosophy|Ph.D.]] in Mathematical Physics from Princeton in 1936.<ref name="Biography of John Bardeen"/>

== Career ==
From 1941 to 1944, Bardeen headed the group working on [[Naval mine|magnetic mines]] and [[torpedo]]es and mine and torpedo countermeasures at the [[Naval Ordnance Laboratory]]. During this period, his wife Jane gave birth to a son (Bill, born in 1941) and a daughter (Betsy, born in 1944).<ref>Pines, David. "[http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/bardeen-john.pdf John Bardeen]". (2013).</ref>

=== Bell Laboratories ===
[[File:Bardeen Shockley Brattain 1948.JPG|thumb|Bardeen (''left''), [[William Shockley]] (''center''), and [[Walter Brattain]] at [[Bell Labs]], 1948]]

In October 1945, Bardeen began work at [[Bell Laboratories]] as a member of a [[solid-state physics]] group led by [[William Shockley]] and chemist Stanley Morgan. Other personnel working in the group were [[Walter Brattain]], physicist [[Gerald Pearson]], chemist Robert Gibney, electronics expert Hilbert Moore and several technicians. He moved his family to [[Summit, New Jersey]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/truegeniuslifesc0000hodd |url-access=registration |title=True Genius: The Life and Science of John Bardeen |publisher=Joseph Henry Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/truegeniuslifesc0000hodd/page/117 117] |quote=Soon, however, life in Summit would become easy and rich for the Bardeens. |isbn=978-0-309-08408-6 |last1=Daitch |first1=Vicki |last2=Hoddeson |first2=Lillian |year= 2002 }}</ref>

The assignment of the group was to seek a solid-state alternative to fragile glass [[vacuum tube]] amplifiers. Their first attempts were based on Shockley's ideas about using an external electrical field on a [[semiconductor]] to affect its conductivity. These experiments mysteriously failed every time in all sorts of configurations and materials. The group was at a standstill until Bardeen suggested a theory that invoked surface states that prevented the field from penetrating the semiconductor. The group changed its focus to study these surface states, meeting almost daily to discuss the work. The rapport of the group was excellent and ideas were freely exchanged.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/crystalfirebirth00rior |url-access=registration |title=Crystal Fire |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |page=[https://archive.org/details/crystalfirebirth00rior/page/127 127] |isbn=978-0-393-04124-8 |last1=Riordan |author1-link=Michael Riordan (physicist)|first1=Michael |last2=Hoddeson |first2=Lillian |year=1997 }}</ref> By the winter of 1946, they had enough results that Bardeen submitted a paper on the surface states to ''[[Physical Review]]''. Brattain started experiments to study the surface states through observations made while shining a bright light on the semiconductor's surface. This led to several more papers (one of them co-authored with Shockley), which estimated the density of the surface states to be more than enough to account for their failed experiments. The pace of the work picked up significantly when they started to surround point contacts between the semiconductor and the conducting wires with [[electrolyte]]s. Moore built a circuit that allowed them to vary the frequency of the input signal easily and suggested that they use ''glycol borate'' (gu), a viscous chemical that did not evaporate. Finally, they began to get some evidence of power amplification when Pearson, acting on a suggestion by Shockley,<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/crystalfirebirth00rior |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/crystalfirebirth00rior/page/132 132] |title=Crystal Fire: The Birth of the Information Age |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |isbn=978-0-393-04124-8 |last1=Riordan |first1=Michael |last2=Hoddeson |first2=Lillian |author2-link=Lillian Hoddeson |year=1997 }}</ref> put a voltage on a droplet of gu placed across a [[p–n junction]].

=== University of Illinois ===
[[File:Bardeen plaque uiuc.jpg|thumb|right|350px|A commemorative plaque remembering John Bardeen and the theory of superconductivity, at the [[University of Illinois]] ]]

By 1951, Bardeen was looking for a new job. Fred Seitz, a friend of Bardeen, convinced the [[University of Illinois]] to make Bardeen an offer of $10,000 a year. Bardeen accepted the offer and left Bell Labs,<ref name="John Bardeen 2" /> joining the engineering and physics faculties at Illinois in 1951, where he was Professor of Electrical Engineering and Professor of Physics.<ref name="knightridder">{{cite news |title=Nice Guys Can Finish As Geniuses at University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. |url=http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2003-01-25/business/0301250052_1_semiconductor-lasers-john-bardeen-true-genius|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208160304/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2003-01-25/business/0301250052_1_semiconductor-lasers-john-bardeen-true-genius|archive-date=December 8, 2015|work=Chicago Tribune: Knight Ridder News Service |date=January 25, 2003 |access-date=August 3, 2007}}</ref>

At Illinois, he established two major research programs, one in the electrical engineering department and one in the physics department. The research program in the electrical engineering department dealt with both experimental and theoretical aspects of semiconductors, and the research program in the physics department dealt with theoretical aspects of macroscopic quantum systems, particularly superconductivity and quantum liquids.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.physics.uiuc.edu/history/bardeen.htm |title=Biography at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign |access-date=November 6, 2007 |publisher=The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011195706/http://physics.uiuc.edu/history/bardeen.htm <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date=October 11, 2007}}</ref>

He was an active professor at Illinois from 1951 to 1975 and then became ''professor emeritus''.<ref name="washpost" /> In his later life, Bardeen remained active in academic research, during which time he focused on understanding the flow of electrons in [[charge density wave]]s (CDWs) through metallic linear chain compounds. His proposals<ref>{{cite journal|last=Bardeen |first=John |title=Theory of non-ohmic conduction from charge-density waves in NbSe3 |journal=Physical Review Letters |year=1979 |volume=42 |issue=22 |pages=1498–1500 |doi=10.1103/PhysRevLett.42.1498 |bibcode=1979PhRvL..42.1498B}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Bardeen |first=John |title=Tunneling theory of charge-density-wave depinning |journal=Physical Review Letters |year=1980 |volume=45 |issue=24 |pages=1978–1980 |doi=10.1103/PhysRevLett.45.1978 |bibcode=1980PhRvL..45.1978B }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author1=J. H. Miller, Jr. |author2=J. Richard |author3=J. R. Tucker |author4=John Bardeen |title=Evidence for tunneling of charge-density waves in TaS3 |journal=Physical Review Letters |year=1983 |volume=51 |issue=17 |pages=1592–1595 |doi=10.1103/PhysRevLett.51.1592 |bibcode=1983PhRvL..51.1592M }}</ref> that CDW electron transport is a collective quantum phenomenon (see [[Macroscopic quantum phenomena]]) were initially greeted with skepticism.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Pines |first=David |title=Biographical Memoirs: John Bardeen |journal=Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society |year=2009 |volume=153 |issue=3 |pages=287–321 |url=http://www.amphilsoc.org/sites/default/files/5BardeenBio1530306.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130524035311/http://www.amphilsoc.org/sites/default/files/5BardeenBio1530306.pdf |archive-date=May 24, 2013}}</ref>  However, experiments reported in 2012<ref>{{cite journal|author1=M. Tsubota |author2=K. Inagaki |author3=T. Matsuura |author4=S. Tanda |title=Aharonov-Bohm effect in charge-density wave loops with inherent temporal current switching|journal=EPL|year=2012|volume=97|issue=5|article-number=57011|doi=10.1209/0295-5075/97/57011|arxiv=0906.5206 |bibcode=2012EL.....9757011T|s2cid=119243023 }}</ref> show oscillations in CDW current versus magnetic flux through tantalum trisulfide rings, similar to the behavior of superconducting quantum interference devices (see [[SQUID]] and [[Aharonov–Bohm effect]]), lending credence to the idea that collective CDW electron transport is fundamentally quantum in nature.<ref>{{cite journal|author1=J. H. Miller, Jr. |author2=A.I. Wijesinghe |author3=Z. Tang |author4=A.M. Guloy |title=Correlated quantum transport of density wave electrons|journal=Physical Review Letters |year=2012 |volume=108 |issue=3 |article-number=036404 |doi=10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.036404 |arxiv=1109.4619 |bibcode=2012PhRvL.108c6404M |pmid=22400766|pmc=11524153 |s2cid=29510494 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author1=J.H. Miller, Jr. |author2=A.I. Wijesinghe |author3=Z. Tang |author4=A.M. Guloy |title=Coherent quantum transport of charge density waves|journal=Physical Review B |volume=87 |issue=11 |article-number=115127 |arxiv=1212.3020|bibcode=2013PhRvB..87k5127M|doi=10.1103/PhysRevB.87.115127|year=2013|s2cid=119241570 }}</ref> (See [[quantum mechanics]].) Bardeen continued his research throughout the 1980s, and published articles in ''[[Physical Review Letters]]''<ref>{{cite journal|last=Bardeen |first=John |title=Theory of size effects in depinning of charge-density waves |journal=Physical Review Letters |year=1990 |volume=64 |issue=19 |pages=2297–2299 |doi=10.1103/PhysRevLett.64.2297 |pmid=10041638 |bibcode=1990PhRvL..64.2297B }}</ref> and ''[[Physics Today]]''<ref>{{cite journal|last=Bardeen|first=John|title=Superconductivity and other macroscopic quantum phenomena|journal=Physics Today|year=1990|volume=43|issue=12|pages=25–31|doi=10.1063/1.881218|url=http://www.physicstoday.org/resource/1/phtoad/v43/i12/p25_s1|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130415170644/http://www.physicstoday.org/resource/1/phtoad/v43/i12/p25_s1|archive-date=April 15, 2013|bibcode=1990PhT....43l..25B|url-access=subscription}}</ref> less than a year before he died.

A collection of Bardeen's personal papers are held by the University of Illinois Archives.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://archon.library.illinois.edu/?p=collections/findingaid&id=690&q=&rootcontentid=92733 |title=Finding Aid for John Bardeen Papers, 1910–91 |access-date=October 2, 2021 |publisher=The University of Illinois Archives}}</ref>

== Research ==
=== Invention of the transistor ===
{{Main|History of the transistor}}
[[File:Replica-of-first-transistor.jpg|thumb|340px|A stylized replica of the first transistor invented at Bell Labs on December 23, 1947]]

On December 23, 1947, Bardeen and [[Walter Brattain]] were working without [[William Shockley]] when they succeeded in creating a [[point-contact transistor]] that achieved amplification. By the next month, [[Bell Labs]]' patent attorneys started to work on the patent applications.<ref name="John Bardeen 2">{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/transistor/album1/bardeen/bardeen2.html |title=Biography of John Bardeen 2 |access-date=December 24, 2007 |publisher=PBS }}</ref>

Bell Labs' attorneys soon discovered that Shockley's field effect principle had been anticipated and patented in 1930 by [[Julius Lilienfeld]], who filed his [[MESFET]]-like patent in Canada on October 22, 1925.<ref>{{patent|US|1745175|"Method and apparatus for controlling electric current" first filing in Canada on October 22, 1925}}</ref>

Shockley publicly took the lion's share of the credit for the invention of the transistor; this led to a deterioration of Bardeen's relationship with him.<ref>Diane Kormos Buchwald. ''American Scientist'' 91.2 (Mar.–Apr. 2003): 185–186.</ref> Bell Labs management, however, consistently presented all three inventors as a team. Shockley eventually infuriated and alienated Bardeen and Brattain, essentially blocking the two from working on the junction transistor. Bardeen began pursuing a theory for superconductivity and left Bell Labs in 1951. Brattain refused to work with Shockley further and was assigned to another group. Neither Bardeen nor Brattain had much to do with the development of the transistor beyond the first year after its invention.<ref>''Crystal Fire'' p. 278</ref><ref>R. Kessler. "[https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/magazine/1997/04/06/absent-at-the-creation/2a432ee5-b1e3-49b9-93f2-ad821d1832dd/ Absent at the Creation]", ''Washington Post Magazine'', 1997.</ref>

The "transistor" (a [[portmanteau]] of "transconductance" and "resistor") was 1/50 the size of the [[vacuum tube]]s it replaced in televisions and radios, used far less power, was far more reliable, and it allowed electrical devices to become more compact.<ref name="washpost"/>

In 1956, Bardeen, Brattain, and Shockley were jointly awarded the [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] "for their researches on semiconductors and their discovery of the transistor effect."<ref name=Nobel1956>{{Cite web|title=The Nobel Prize in Physics 1956|url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1956/index.html|url-status=live|publisher=[[Nobel Foundation]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080914090334/http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1956/index.html|archive-date=2008-09-14|access-date=2008-10-09}}</ref>

=== BCS theory ===
{{Main|BCS theory}}
In 1957, Bardeen, in collaboration with [[Leon Cooper]] and his doctoral student [[John Robert Schrieffer]], proposed the standard theory of [[superconductivity]] known as the [[BCS theory]] (named for their initials).<ref name="washpost"/>

In 1972, Bardeen, Cooper, and Schrieffer were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics "for their jointly developed theory of superconductivity, usually called the BCS theory."<ref name=Nobel1972>{{Cite web|title=The Nobel Prize in Physics 1972|url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1972/index.html|url-status=live|publisher=[[Nobel Foundation]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080919014509/http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1972/index.html|archive-date =2008-09-19|access-date=2008-10-09}}</ref> This was Bardeen's second Nobel Prize in Physics; he became the first person to win two Nobel Prizes in the same field.<ref name="chisuntimes2">{{cite news |title= Physicist John Bardeen, 82, transistor pioneer, Nobelist |url= http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-4038249.html|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20121102062652/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-4038249.html|archive-date= November 2, 2012|newspaper=Chicago Sun-Times|date=January 31, 1991 |access-date=August 3, 2007}}</ref>

In the late 1960s, Bardeen felt that Cooper and Schrieffer deserved the Nobel Prize for BCS. He was concerned that they might not be awarded because of the [[Nobel Committee]]'s reluctance to award the same person twice, which would be his case as a co-author of the theory. Bardeen nominated scientists who worked on superconducting [[quantum tunneling|tunneling]] effects such as the [[Josephson effect]] for the Prize in 1967: [[Leo Esaki]], [[Ivar Giaever]], and [[Brian Josephson]]. He recognized that because the tunneling developments depended on superconductivity, it would increase the chances that BCS itself would be awarded first. He also reasoned that the Nobel Committee had a predilection for multinational teams, which was the case for his tunneling nominees, each being from a different country. Bardeen renewed the nominations in 1971, 1972, when BCS received the prize, and finally 1973, when tunneling was awarded.{{r|trueGenius|p=230-231}}

=== Josephson effect controversy ===
Bardeen became interested in superconducting tunneling in the summer of 1960 after consulting for the [[General Electric Research Laboratory]] in Schenectady, New York, where he learned about experiments done by Ivar Giaever at [[Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute]], which suggested that [[electron]]s from a normal material could tunnel into a superconducting one.{{r|trueGenius|pp=222-223}}

On June 8, 1962, Brian Josephson, then 23, submitted to ''[[Physics Letters]]'' his prediction of a super-current flow across a barrier,<ref>{{cite journal |first1=B. D. |last1=Josephson |author1-link=Brian Josephson |year=1962 |title=Possible new effects in superconductive tunnelling |journal=Phys. Lett. |volume=1 |issue=7 |pages=251–253 |doi=10.1016/0031-9163(62)91369-0 |bibcode=1962PhL.....1..251J}}</ref> effect which later became known as the [[Josephson effect]]. Bardeen challenged Josephson's theory on a note in his own paper received ten days later by ''[[Physical Review Letters]]''{{r|trueGenius|pp=222-225}}:<ref>{{cite journal |first1=John |last1=Bardeen |date=15 August 1962 |title=Tunneling Into Superconductors |url=https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.9.147 |journal=Physical Review Letters |volume=9 |issue=4 |pages=147–149 |doi=10.1103/PhysRevLett.9.147|bibcode=1962PhRvL...9..147B |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

<blockquote>
In a recent note, Josephson uses a somewhat similar formulation to discuss the possibility of superfluid flow across the tunneling region, in which no quasi-particles are created. However, as pointed out by the author (reference 3), pairing does not extend into the barrier, so that there can be no such superfluid flow.
</blockquote>

The matter was further discussed on the 8th [[International Conference on Low Temperature Physics]] held September 16 to 22, 1962 at [[Queen Mary University of London]]. While Josephson was presenting his theory, Bardeen rose to describe his objections. After an intense debate both men were unable to reach a common understanding, and at points Josephson repeatedly asked Bardeen, "Did you calculate it? No? I did."{{r|trueGenius|pp=225-226}}

In 1963, experimental evidence and further theoretical clarifications were discovered supporting the Josephson effect, notably in a paper by [[Philip W. Anderson]] and John Rowell from Bell Labs.<ref>{{cite journal |first1=P. W. |last1=Anderson |first2=J. M. |last2=Rowell |date=15 March 1963 |title=Probable Observation of the Josephson Superconducting Tunneling Effect |url=https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.10.230 |journal=Physical Review Letters |volume=10 |issue=6 |pages=230–232 |doi=10.1103/PhysRevLett.10.230|bibcode=1963PhRvL..10..230A |url-access=subscription }}</ref> After this, Bardeen came to accept Josephson's theory and publicly withdrew his previous opposition to it at a conference held in August 1963. Bardeen also invited Josephson as a postdoc in Illinois for the academic year of 1965–1966, and later nominated Josephson and Giaever for the Nobel Prize in Physics, which they received in 1973.{{r|trueGenius|pp=226}}

== Personal life ==
While studying at Princeton, Bardeen met Jane Maxwell (1907–1997) during a visit to his old friends in [[Pittsburgh]]. He married Jane on July 18, 1938.

Bardeen was a scientist with a very unassuming personality. While he served as a professor for almost 40 years at the University of Illinois, he was best remembered by neighbors for hosting cookouts where he would prepare food for his friends, many of whom were unaware of his accomplishments at the university. He would always ask his guests if they liked the hamburger bun toasted (since he liked his that way). He enjoyed playing golf and going on picnics with his family. [[Lillian Hoddeson]] said that because he "differed radically from the popular stereotype of 'genius' and was uninterested in appearing other than ordinary, the public and the media often overlooked him."<ref name="knightridder"/>

When Bardeen was asked about his beliefs during a 1988 interview, he responded: "I am not a religious person, and so do not think about it very much". However, he has also said: "I feel that science cannot provide an answer to the ultimate questions about the meaning and purpose of life." Bardeen did believe in a code of moral values and behavior.<ref>{{cite book|title=True Genius: The Life and Science of John Bardeen|url=https://archive.org/details/truegeniuslifesc0000hodd|url-access=registration|year=2002|publisher=Joseph Henry Press|isbn=978-0-309-16954-7|first1=Lillian|last1= Hoddeson|first2=Vicki|last2= Daitch|quote=John's mother, Althea, had been reared in the Quaker tradition, and his stepmother, Ruth, was Catholic, but John was resolutely secular throughout his life. He was once "taken by surprise" when an interviewer asked him a question about religion. "I am not a religious person," he said, "and so do not think about it very much." He went on in a rare elaboration of his personal beliefs. "I feel that science cannot provide an answer to the ultimate questions about the meaning and purpose of life. With religion, one can get answers on faith. Most scientists leave them open and perhaps unanswerable, but do abide by a code of moral values. For a civilized society to succeed, there must be a common consensus on moral values and moral behaviour, with due regard to the welfare of our fellow man. There are likely many sets of moral values compatible with successful civilized society. It is when they conflict that difficulties arise."}}</ref> John Bardeen's children were taken to church by his wife, who taught Sunday school and was a church elder.<ref name="trueGenius">Daitch & Hoddeson (2002). ''True Genius:: The Life and Science of John Bardeen''. Joseph Henry Press</ref>{{rp|pp=168–169}} Despite this, he and his wife made it clear that they did not have faith in an afterlife and other religious ideas.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Vicki Daitch, Lillian Hoddeson|title=True Genius:: The Life and Science of John Bardeen|date=2002|publisher=Joseph Henry Press|isbn=978-0-309-16954-7|page=313|chapter=Last Journey|quote="Every time we attend a funeral service," Jane had once told her sister Betty, "we decide again that we want no such ceremony when we die." She and John agreed that the family could, if they wanted to, have a memorial service conducted by friends and family, "but not a sermon by a stranger, who, if a minister, is bound to dwell on life after death and other religious ideas in which we have no faith."}}</ref> He was the father of [[James M. Bardeen]], [[William A. Bardeen]], and daughter Elizabeth.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-8620751.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160301073122/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-8620751.html|archive-date=March 1, 2016|title=Elizabeth Greytak, Systems Analyst|newspaper=[[The Boston Globe]]|location=Boston|date=December 25, 2000|access-date=December 27, 2014}}</ref>

Bardeen died of [[heart disease]] on January 30, 1991, at [[Brigham and Women's Hospital]] in [[Boston]], [[Massachusetts]], at the age of 82.<ref name=obit/> Although he lived in [[Urbana, Illinois|Champaign-Urbana]], he had come to Boston for medical consultation.<ref name="washpost"/> Bardeen and his wife Jane are buried at [[Forest Hill Cemetery (Madison, Wisconsin)|Forest Hill Cemetery]] in Madison, Wisconsin.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Jane John Bardeen - Forest Hill Cemetery - Madison, WI |url=http://www.foresthillcemetery.net/S25/BardeenJ.asp |access-date=2025-01-28 |website=www.foresthillcemetery.net}}</ref>

== Recognition ==
=== Awards ===
{| class="wikitable"
! Country
! Year
! Institute
! Award
! Citation
! {{Reference column heading}}
|-
| {{Flag|United States|1912}}
| 1952
| [[Franklin Institute]]
| [[Stuart Ballantine Medal]]
| "In recognition of their contributions to the theory of surface states in semiconductors and of their invention of the point-contact transistor" (with [[Walter Brattain]])
| <ref>{{Cite web
|title=Case Files: Drs. John Bardeen and Walter Brattain
|url=https://fi.edu/en/news/case-files-drs-john-bardeen-and-walter-brattain
|url-status=live
|publisher=[[Franklin Institute]]
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251005194042/https://fi.edu/en/news/case-files-drs-john-bardeen-and-walter-brattain
|archive-date=2025-10-05
|access-date=2025-11-07}}</ref>
|-
| {{Flag|United States|1912}}
| 1954
| [[American Physical Society]]
| [[Oliver E. Buckley Prize]]
| "For contributions to the physics of semiconductor surfaces"
| <ref>{{Cite web|title=Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Prize |url=https://www.aps.org/programs/honors/prizes/buckley.cfm|website=www.aps.org|access-date=2022-05-03}}</ref>
|-
| {{Flag|Sweden}}
| 1956
| [[Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences]]
| [[Nobel Prize in Physics]]
| "For their researches on semiconductors and their discovery of the transistor effect" (with [[Walter Brattain]] and [[William Shockley]])
| <ref name=Nobel1956/>
|-
| {{Flag|Switzerland}}
| 1962
| [[IUPAP]]
| [[Fritz London Memorial Prize]]
| "For his development of the first successful microscopic theory of superconductivity"
| <ref>{{Cite web|title=Fritz London Memorial Prize|url=https://physics.duke.edu/fritz-london-memorial-prize|publisher=[[Duke University]]|access-date=2023-10-10}}</ref>
|-
| {{Flag|United States}}
| 1971
| [[IEEE]]
| [[IEEE Medal of Honor]]
| "For his profound contributions to the understanding of the conductivity of solids, to the invention of the transistor, and to the microscopic theory of superconductivity"
| <ref>{{Cite web|title=John Bardeen|url=https://corporate-awards.ieee.org/recipient/john-bardeen/|url-status=live|publisher=[[IEEE]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220625041900/https://corporate-awards.ieee.org/recipient/john-bardeen/ |archive-date=2022-06-25|access-date=2024-05-13}}</ref>
|-
| {{Flag|Sweden}}
| 1972
| [[Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences]]
| [[Nobel Prize in Physics]]
| "For their jointly developed theory of superconductivity, usually called the BCS theory" (with [[Leon Cooper]] and [[Robert Schrieffer]])
| <ref name=Nobel1972/>
|-
| {{Flag|United States}}
| 1975
| [[Franklin Institute]]
| [[Franklin Medal]]
| "Theory and technology of superconductivity and semiconductors"
| <ref>{{Cite web|title=John Bardeen|url=https://fi.edu/en/awards/laureates/john-bardeen-0|url-status=live|publisher=[[Franklin Institute]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250329041151/https://fi.edu/en/awards/laureates/john-bardeen-0|archive-date=2025-03-29|access-date=2025-10-29}}</ref>
|-
| {{Flag|Soviet Union}}
| 1987
| [[Soviet Academy of Sciences]]
| [[Lomonosov Gold Medal]]
| "For outstanding achievements in the field of physics"
| <ref>{{Cite web|title=Lomonosov Gold Medal|url=https://www.ras.ru/about/awards/lomonosovgoldmedal.aspx|url-status=live|language=ru|publisher=[[Russian Academy of Sciences]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251003192805/https://www.ras.ru/about/awards/lomonosovgoldmedal.aspx|archive-date=2025-10-03|access-date=2025-11-07}}</ref>
|-
| {{Flag|United States}}
| 1988
| [[University of Pennsylvania]]
| [[Harold Pender Award]]
| "Co-inventor of the transistor and contributor to the theory of superconductivity"
| <ref>{{Cite web|title=The Harold Pender Award Lecture |url=https://events.seas.upenn.edu/distinguished-lectures/pender-lecture/|url-status=live|publisher=[[University of Pennsylvania]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250815005242/https://events.seas.upenn.edu/distinguished-lectures/pender-lecture/|archive-date=2025-08-15|access-date=2024-09-19}}</ref>
|}

Bardeen is the only double laureate in [[Nobel Prize in Physics|Physics]], and one of three [[:Category:Nobel laureates with multiple Nobel awards|double laureates]] of the same prize; the others are [[Frederick Sanger]] who won the 1958 and 1980 Prizes in Chemistry and [[Karl Barry Sharpless]] who won the 2001 and 2022 [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Prizes in Chemistry]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Nobel Prize facts|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/facts/nobel-prize-facts/|url-status=live|publisher=[[Nobel Foundation]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250713043304/https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/facts/nobel-prize-facts/|archive-date=2025-07-13|access-date=2015-09-01}}</ref>

=== Memberships ===
{| class="wikitable"
! Country
! Year
! Institute
! Type
! Section
! {{Reference column heading}}
|-
| {{Flag|United States|1912}}
| 1954
| [[National Academy of Sciences]]
| [[Member of the National Academy of Sciences|Member]]
| Physics
| <ref>{{Cite web|title=John Bardeen|url=https://www.nasonline.org/directory-entry/john-bardeen-a5jbnm/|url-status=live|publisher=[[National Academy of Sciences]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250815182520/https://www.nasonline.org/directory-entry/john-bardeen-a5jbnm/|archive-date=2025-08-15|access-date=2025-10-29}}</ref>
|-
| {{Flag|United States|1912}}
| 1958
| [[American Philosophical Society]]
| Member
| Mathematical and Physical Sciences
| <ref>{{Cite web|title=Member History |url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=John+Bardeen&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced|url-status=live|publisher=[[American Philosophical Society]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221213155737/https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=John+Bardeen&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced|archive-date=2022-12-13|access-date=2022-12-13}}</ref>
|-
| {{Flag|United States}}
| 1959
| [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]]
| Member
| Mathematical and Physical Sciences
| <ref>{{Cite web|title=John Bardeen|url=https://www.amacad.org/person/john-bardeen|publisher=[[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]]|access-date=2025-11-07}}</ref>
|-
| {{Flag|United Kingdom}}
| 1973
| [[Royal Society]]
| Foreign Member
|
| <ref>{{Cite web|title=Search past Fellows|url=https://catalogues.royalsociety.org/CalmView/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Persons&id=NA3164&pos=1|publisher=[[Royal Society]]|access-date=2025-11-07}}</ref>
|}

=== National awards ===
{| class="wikitable"
|+{{Flag|United States}}
!scope="col"| Year
!scope="col"| [[President of the United States|President]]
!scope="col"| Award
!scope="col"| Citation
!scope="col"| {{Reference column heading}}
|-
| 1965
| [[Lyndon B. Johnson]]
| [[National Medal of Science]]
| "For his brilliant contributions to the theory of electrical conductivity in solid materials, especially those which led to the development of a successful theory of superconductivity"
| <ref>{{Cite web|title=John Bardeen|url=https://nationalmedals.org/laureate/john-bardeen/|url-status=live|website=nationalmedals.org|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250909044436/https://nationalmedals.org/laureate/john-bardeen/|archive-date=2025-09-09|access-date=2025-12-29}}</ref>
|-
| 1977
| [[Gerald Ford]]
| [[Presidential Medal of Freedom]]
|
| <ref>{{Cite web|title=Presidential Medal of Freedom|url=https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R47639|url-status=live
|publisher=[[Library of Congress]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251006052522/https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R47639|archive-date=2025-10-06|access-date=2025-11-07}}</ref>
|}

== Commemorations ==
{{quote box|align=right|width=33%|quote = Near the end of this decade, when they begin enumerating the names of the people who had the greatest impact on the 20th century, the name of John Bardeen, who died last week, has to be near, or perhaps even arguably at, the top of the list ... Mr. Bardeen shared two Nobel Prizes and has been awarded numerous other honors.  But what greater honor can there be when each of us can look all around us and everywhere see the reminders of a man whose genius has made our lives longer, healthier and better.|source= —''[[Chicago Tribune]]'' editorial, February 3, 1991}}

In honor of Bardeen, the engineering [[Quadrangle (architecture)|quadrangle]] at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is named the [[Engineering Campus (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)|Bardeen Quad]].

Also in honor of Bardeen, [[Sony]] Corporation endowed a $3&nbsp;million John Bardeen professorial chair at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, beginning in 1990.<ref name=obit>{{cite news|author=John Noble Wilford |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/01/31/obituaries/dr-john-bardeen-82-winner-of-nobel-prize-for-transistor-dies.html |quote=John Bardeen, a co-inventor of the transistor that led to modern electronics and twice a winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics, died yesterday at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. He was 82 years old. ...|title=Dr. John Bardeen, 82, Winner Of Nobel Prize for Transistor, Dies |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=January 31, 1991 |access-date=February 25, 2014|author-link=John Noble Wilford }}</ref> Sony Corporation owed much of its success to commercializing Bardeen's transistors in portable TVs and radios, and had worked with Illinois researchers. {{As of|2022}}, the John Bardeen Professor is [[Yurii Vlasov]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Communications |first=Grainger Engineering Office of Marketing and |title=John Bardeen Endowed Chair in Electrical and Computer Engineering and Physics, sponsored by the Sony Corporation |url=https://ece.illinois.edu/about/directory/chairs/bardeen-chair |access-date=2022-09-09 |website=ece.illinois.edu |language=en}}</ref>

At the time of Bardeen's death, then-University of Illinois chancellor Morton Weir said, "It is a rare person whose work changes the life of every American; John's did."<ref name="chisuntimes2"/>

Bardeen was honored on a March 6, 2008, United States [[postage stamp]] as part of the "American Scientists" series designed by artist [[Victor Stabin]]. The $0.41 stamp was unveiled in a ceremony at the University of Illinois.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.engr.uiuc.edu/news/?xId=072808960714 |title=Bardeen Stamp Celebrated at Campus Ceremony |access-date=March 4, 2008 |publisher=University of Illinois }}</ref>  His citation reads: "Theoretical physicist John Bardeen (1908–1991) shared the Nobel Prize in Physics twice—in 1956, as co-inventor of the transistor and in 1972, for the explanation of superconductivity.  The transistor paved the way for all modern electronics, from computers to microchips.  Diverse applications of superconductivity include infrared sensors and medical imaging systems."  The other scientists on the "American Scientists" sheet include biochemist [[Gerty Cori]], chemist [[Linus Pauling]] and astronomer [[Edwin Hubble]].

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{commons category-inline}}
* {{wikiquote-inline}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070808015028/http://web.library.uiuc.edu/ahx/ead/ua/1110020/1110020f.html The Bardeen Archives] at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
* {{Nobelprize}} including his 2 Nobel lectures 
** December 11, 1956 ''[https://www.nobelprize.org/uploads/2018/06/bardeen-lecture.pdf Semiconductor Research Leading to the Point Contact Transistor]'' 
** December 11, 1972 ''[https://www.nobelprize.org/uploads/2018/06/bardeen-lecture-1.pdf Electron-Phonon Interactions and Superconductivity]''
* [http://www.boston.com/globe/search/stories/nobel/1991/1991ae.html Associated Press Obituary of John Bardeen as printed in The Boston Globe]
* [https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/4146-1 Oral History interview transcript with John Bardeen on 12 May 1977, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library and Archives - Session I], interviewed by [[Lillian Hoddeson]]
* [https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/4146-2 Oral History interview transcript with John Bardeen on 16 May 1977, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library and Archives – Session II], interviewed by [[Lillian Hoddeson]]
* [https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/4146-3 Oral History interview transcript with John Bardeen on 1 December 1977, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library and Archives – Session III], interviewed by [[Lillian Hoddeson]]
* [https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/4146-4 Oral History interview transcript with John Bardeen on 22 December 1977, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library and Archives - Session IV], interviewed by [[Lillian Hoddeson]]
* [https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/4146-5 Oral History interview transcript with John Bardeen on 4 April 1978, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library and Archives – Session V], interviewed by [[Lillian Hoddeson]] and [[Gordon Baym]]
* [https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/25488 Oral History interview transcript with John Bardeen on 13 February 1980, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library and Archives], interviewed by [[Lillian Hoddeson]]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150310072112/http://www.princeton.edu/~mudd/finding_aids/mathoral/pmc01.htm Interview with Bardeen about his experience at Princeton]
*[http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=5550 The American Presidency Project]
* [http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php/John_Bardeen IEEE History Center biography]
* [https://archive.today/20121221103235/http://www.iccc.univagora.ro/ IEEE second Int. Conference on Computers, Communications and Control (ICCCC 2008), an event dedicated to the Centenary of John Bardeen (1908–1991)]
* {{US patent|2524035}} – "Three-Electrode Circuit Element Utilizing Semiconductive Materials"

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