Yuan Cao Graphene Superconductivity Pioneer | Generated by AI
Yuan Cao
Yuan Cao is a Chinese physicist and electrical engineer renowned for his groundbreaking work on two-dimensional materials, particularly twisted bilayer graphene. Born in 1996 in China, he completed his PhD at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, under the supervision of Professor Pablo Jarillo-Herrero. His doctoral research focused on the electronic properties of graphene, including the discovery of superconductivity and insulating behavior in “magic-angle” twisted bilayer graphene—a stack of two graphene sheets rotated by about 1.1 degrees, which unlocks exotic quantum phenomena like correlated insulating states and unconventional superconductivity.
At just 22 years old in 2018, Cao’s findings, published in Nature, revolutionized the field of nanoscience and materials physics. This work earned him the top spot on Nature’s annual “10 People Who Mattered” list for 2018, where he was dubbed the “graphene wrangler” for coaxing superconductivity from atom-thin carbon sheets. The discovery has implications for understanding high-temperature superconductors and potential applications in quantum computing and electronics.
After his PhD, Cao joined the University of California, Berkeley as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, continuing his research on 2D materials, superconductivity, and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). He has authored numerous high-impact papers, with over 23,000 citations on Google Scholar as of recent records.
Key Milestones
- 2018: Led the team that observed superconductivity in twisted bilayer graphene (Nature, March 2018).
- Education: Bachelor’s from Peking University (China); PhD from MIT (completed ~2020).
- Awards: Nature’s 10 (2018); Forbes 30 Under 30 in Science (2020).
Wikipedia: Yuan Cao
Nature’s 10: Yuan Cao
MIT News: Twisted Science
CGTN: Meet the 22-year-old Chinese Scientist
Google Scholar: Yuan Cao