Physicist who won Nobel in ’72 dies

John Robert Schrieffer, one of three Americans who shared the Nobel Prize in physics for their theory explaining superconductivity, a nearmiraculous process in which electric current flows without resistance, died July 27 at a nursing facility in Tallahassee, Florida. He was 88.

Family members confirmed his death to the Associated Press but did not give a precise cause.

Superconductivity, in addition to being one of nature’s puzzles, also offered great promise to daily life when Schrieffer began his research in the late 1950s. It allowed the large-scale transmission and application of electric currents without the costs incurred in propelling electrons against resistance, even in conducting materials.

Modern electric devices, especially those used in medicine and other demanding fields, now take advantage of superconductivity using cooling technology.

Among physicists, the theory that accounted for the mysteries of superconductivity became known as the BCS theory, for its three creators: John Bardeen, Leon Neil Cooper and Schrieffer. They shared the Nobel in 1972.

A tragic incident shadowed Schrieffer’s later life, one that his friends found bewildering and difficult to comprehend.

On Sept. 24, 2004, while driving his Mercedes-benz from San Francisco to Santa Barbara, Schrieffer slammed into the rear of a van at more than 100 mph. One of the van’s passengers was thrown and killed, and seven others were injured. One of the passengers died a month later.

Schrieffer had nine prior speeding tickets and was driving with a suspended Florida license. He offered a tearful apology in the courtroom, pleaded no contest to a charge of vehicular manslaughter and was sentenced to two years in prison.