Princeton Weekly Bulletin June 8, 1998
Two named to endowed chairs
Charles Fefferman, Hebert E. Jones Jr. '43 University Professor of Mathematics, has been named Henry Burchard Fine Professor of Mathematics for one year, starting June 1. He has been a member of the faculty since 1974, when he came to Princeton at the age of 25, the youngest full professor in the University's history.
History Professor Sean Wilentz has been named Dayton-Stockton Professor of History, effective July 1. At Princeton since 1979, Wilentz directs the Program in American Studies. Author of several books on 19th-century America and a contributing editor at The New Republic, he will spend 1998-99 as a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, writing a book on the rise of American democracy.
Resignations
The following faculty members have submitted their resignations.
Assistant Professor of Mathematics Almut Burchard, and Professor of World Politics of Peace and War George Downs, to accept a position at New York University, effective September 1.
Assistant Professor of Economics and International Affairs Paolo Pesenti, effective July 1, 1999.
Franklin Medalist
Daniel Tsui, Arthur LeGrand Doty Professor of Electrical Engineering, has received the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Physics for his role in discovering and explaining the fractional quantum Hall effect (FQHE), the liquid-like behavior of electrons at extremely cold temperatures and high magnetic fields. Tsui and Horst Stormer of Bell Labs discovered this phenomenon in 1982, shortly before Tsui joined the Princeton faculty, and Robert Laughlin, now at Stanford University, developed the theoretical explanation for it. All three shared the Franklin Medal.
Emeriti
Nai-ying Yuan Tang and Hai-tao Tang have both been named Lecturer in East Asian Studies, Emeritus. Coauthors of Classical Chinese -- A Basic Reader and Readings in Classical Chinese Poetry and Prose, they taught Chinese language at Princeton for many years. Nai-ying, who came to Princeton in 1968, was granted tenure in 1974 and retires this year; Hai-tao, who retired in 1996, joined the faculty in 1974 and was tenured in 1979.